JP2003109187A - Display - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display in which snowing on the surface of the display can be surely prevented, danger of entering of dust, snow or small insect to the device and sticking onto the surface of the display is eliminated and burden for cleaning or check can be reduced. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a light unit 5A of a signal lighting having a hood 10 and a transparent snowing-proof plate 31 arranged in front of this light unit 5A while being inclined forward, this snowing-proof plate 31 is incorporated inside the hood 10 through a packing 32, and a space 34 formed from a transparent resin cover 6, the hood 10 and the snowing-proof plate 31 is sealed. A wind 36 is decelerated on the surface of the snowing-proof plate 31, uniformly flows obliquely downward along with the relevant surface and blows out snow on the snowing-proof plate 31. The packing 32 is prevented from being protruded forward from the surface of the snowing-proof plate 31.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display device such as a road sign plate, a traffic signal light, and a guide plate, and more particularly to a display device which prevents snow from adhering to the surface of the display during snowfall.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a display device such as a road sign device and a traffic signal light device is installed in an area where a large amount of snowfall occurs, there is a problem of snow accumulation and snow accretion. In particular, snow is less adhering to dry snow below freezing and it is difficult to snow when wind is weak or strong, but it is snowed when wind speed becomes 4-5 m or more due to temperature and equipment temperature. Like It is thought that this is because the kinetic energy of the snowflakes is replaced with thermal energy by colliding with the object, and melts and adheres and freezes at the contact point with the object.

Looking at the snow accretion of the traffic light, since the hood (overhanging) for shielding the sunlight is provided over the entire area above the lens, the snow is on the lens surface when there is no wind or when there is a weak wind. It doesn't reach and does not reach snow. When the wind speed is higher than that of snow reaching the lens surface, the wind changes its flow vertically and horizontally when it is blown onto the lens surface, but the wind is decelerated by the upper hood and the substantially vertical lens surface, causing stagnation, and the lens surface It is presumed that the snow accumulated in the area will reach the ground. Then, when the snow is deposited on the lens surface, the inconvenience that the lighting color cannot be visually recognized occurs, so it is necessary to take some measures to prevent snow. In this case, the signal light device using the incandescent light bulb as the light source can heat the snow that has landed to melt the snow because the light source itself functions as a heat source, but it is an energy-saving type that uses the light emitting diode (LED) as the light source. Since the signal lamp of (1) has a remarkably low calorific value, it cannot melt the snow that has snowed, and if the snow grows significantly, there is a possibility that the original function of the signal lamp will not be fulfilled.

Therefore, in order to solve such inconvenience, various methods have been conventionally proposed. For example, in the display device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-255195, a water-repellent paint is applied to the surface of the display or the surface of the hood of the display to prevent snow from accumulating. Further, in the marker device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-264011, a transparent member is mounted on the front surface of a marker plate which is attached to be tilted slightly forward with respect to a vertical line, and a transparent member is tilted forward more than the tilt angle of the marker plate. In addition, the transparent member is attached in a bent state, and a curved surface is formed above the transparent member to prevent stagnation of wind so that the front surface of the signboard is prevented from snowing during snowfall.

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned conventional device has the following problems, and there is still room for improvement. That is, JP-A-10-25519
The display device described in Japanese Patent No. 5 requires a step of applying a water-repellent coating on the surface of the lens or the surface of the hood.
There is a problem that the number of manufacturing steps of the display device increases and the cost increases. In addition, although water-repellent paints have an excellent effect of preventing water droplets from adhering, they cannot prevent snow from adhering, especially when the snow that has snowed freezes and cannot be easily removed. It is not practical because you have to wait until the snow melts due to the temperature rise.

The marker device described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 09-264011 has an advantage that the amount of snow deposited on the surface of the transparent member can be reduced because the transparent member is tilted forward. Since the space between the signboard and the transparent member is not a closed space, if dust, snow, insects, etc. enter the space between the signboard and the transparent member and adhere to the surface of the signboard, characters or lights will light up. Since it becomes difficult to visually recognize the color, it is necessary to regularly remove the transparent member and clean the signboard,
The maintenance work is troublesome. In particular, once dust enters the space between the signboard and the transparent member, it collects inside and is difficult to completely remove, which is not preferable.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems. The object of the present invention is to reliably prevent snow from accumulating on the surface of the display and to prevent dust,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a display device capable of reducing the burden of cleaning, inspection work, etc. without the risk that snow, small insects, water, etc. will enter and adhere to the surface of the display device.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a first invention is an indicator having a hood, a transparent snow-prevention plate arranged in front of the indicator in a forward tilted state, A packing provided between the snow prevention plate and the hood is provided, and a space formed by the indicator, the snow prevention plate, and the hood is sealed by the packing. In the present invention, since the snow accretion preventive plate is attached in a forward tilted state, it is possible to prevent or reduce snow accretion on the snow accretion preventive plate. When the wind blows from the front toward the snow-prevention plate, the wind hits the surface of the snow-prevention plate, decelerates, and flows uniformly diagonally downward along the surface, and hits the snow-prevention plate. Blow off the snow.
The hood prevents snow from accumulating on the upper surface of the display and the surface of the snow-prevention plate during snowfall. The packing is an indicator,
The space enclosed by the snow accretion prevention plate and the hood is sealed to prevent ingress of snow, dust, small insects, water, etc.

A second invention is the same as the first invention,
The snow accretion prevention plate is formed in a mountain shape so that the horizontal cross-sectional shape is convex toward the front side in the widthwise central portion. In this invention, when the wind hits the surface, the snow-prevention plate distributes the wind diagonally downward to the left and right to prevent the snow from staying in the central portion in the width direction. When the wind hits the surface of the snow-prevention plate, it slows down and flows uniformly diagonally downward and leftward along the surface, and blows off the snow that accompanies the snow-prevention plate.

In a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, the packing does not project forward of the snow-prevention plate at least below the snow-prevention plate. In the present invention, there is no risk of snow accumulating on the packing. That is, when the wind or snow flows downward along the surface of the snow-prevention plate, if the packing projects forward from the snow-prevention plate below the snow-prevention plate, the snow will reach this protrusion, A small amount of snow that has landed on the ground becomes the core of the snow. Then, when the snow accretion develops and reaches the upper surface of the snow accretion preventive plate, the visibility of the display is reduced. On the other hand, if the packing does not project forward from the snow accretion prevention plate, there is no possibility that the packing will snow and accumulate.

A fourth invention is the above-mentioned first, second or third invention.
In the invention, the display uses an LED as a light source. In the present invention, the snow accretion preventive plate prevents or reduces the snow accretion itself, so that the influence of the snow accretion is small even in the case of an indicator using an LED having a low heat generation amount.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is the above-mentioned first, second, third or fourth aspect, wherein the indicator is a traffic signal lamp. In the present invention, the snow accretion preventive plate prevents snow accretion on the signal lamp and enhances the visibility and reliability of the lamp.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects of the invention, the hood is cylindrical on the base end side and semi-cylindrical on the tip side. In the present invention, the hood has a curved upper surface to reduce the amount of snow.

A seventh invention is based on the first invention.
The snow-prevention plate is formed in a mountain shape so that the horizontal cross-sectional shape is convex toward the front side in the widthwise central portion, and the packing projects forward from the snow-prevention plate at least below the snow-prevention plate. Instead, the display device is a traffic signal light device that is arranged at least above the traffic signal light devices that are vertically arranged in a row. In the present invention, in the signal lamps that are arranged in a row, snow is accumulated on the hood of the signal lamps below the lamps, and the lamps are difficult to see. for that reason,
The snow-prevention plate that flows to the outside of the hood at least above the signal lamp effectively prevents snow from accumulating on the signal lamp.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below in detail based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vertical three-light type traffic signal lamp installed at an intersection of an automobile road, and FIG.
II line sectional drawing, FIG. 3 is an expanded sectional view of a signal light apparatus. In these drawings, a vertical type three-light type traffic signal light apparatus indicated by reference numeral 1 as a whole is a vertically long housing 4 attached to a column 2 through a support member 3, and a transparent composite inside the housing 4. It is provided with three lamp units 5A, 5B, 5C as a display unit in which resin covers 6, 7, 8 are projected forward and incorporated. Therefore, on the front surface of the housing 4, the cover 6,
Three openings 9 each having a size suitable for 7 and 8 are formed at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction. In addition, a hood 10 that prevents sunlight from directly entering the covers 6, 7 and 8 is attached to each opening 9 on the front surface of the housing 4.

In FIG. 3, the lamp unit 5A emits a red signal color, and includes a housing 12, a printed circuit board 13 disposed in the housing 12, and a predetermined pitch on the front surface of the printed circuit board 13. A plurality of light emitting diodes 14 arranged in a matrix for emitting red light, and the front opening 1 of the housing 12.
5, the cover 6 for covering 5 and the seal member 16 for hermetically closing the cover 6 and the housing 12 are provided.

The cover 6 is formed of a colorless and transparent material such as acrylic resin and has a spherical cover main body 6A having a convex curved surface on the front side, and is integrated with the outer periphery of the cover main body 6A toward the rear. And a cylindrical portion 6B protrudingly provided in The cylindrical portion 6B is fitted to the front opening of the housing 12 and is fixed by an adhesive to form a mounting portion for the housing 12. The joint between the cover 6 and the housing 12 is sealed by the seal member 16.

The light emitting diodes 14 are arranged on the surface of the printed circuit board 13 so that the front surface is even. The printed circuit board 13 is fixed near the front opening of the housing 12.

The hood 10 has a cylindrical portion 10A on the base end side.
And a semi-cylindrical portion 10B on the tip side. The cylindrical portion 10A and the semi-cylindrical portion 10B have the same outer diameter and are formed larger than the hole diameter of the opening 9 of the housing 4.
Are joined to the front surface of the housing 4 by welding or the like so as to surround the opening 9. The semi-cylindrical portion 10B has a central angle of about 180 ° and is connected to the upper half portion on the front end side of the cylindrical portion 10A.

Inside the hood 10, the cylindrical portion 10A
A snow accretion prevention plate 31 for preventing or reducing snow accretion on the cover 6 of the lamp unit 5A is disposed on the front end side of the through a packing 32. This snow prevention plate 31
The lamp unit 5A is formed into an elliptical shape with a transparent material such as acrylic resin so as not to impair the light distribution characteristics, is arranged in a state inclining forward by a required angle, and is fixed to the inner surface of the hood 10 with an adhesive. . The inclination angle of the snow accretion prevention plate 31 with respect to the vertical line is about 20 to 35 °.

The packing 32 is used for waterproofing the gap between the inner surface of the hood 10 and the snow accretion prevention plate 31, and the cover 6, the hood 10 and the snow accretion prevention plate 31.
The space surrounded by is defined as a closed space 34. Therefore, there is no possibility that snow, dust, small insects, water, or the like will enter the sealed space 34 from the outside through the gap between the inner surface of the hood 10 and the snow-prevention plate 31.

Here, it is preferable that the surface of the snow accretion prevention plate 31 is a smooth surface for preventing snow accretion and has no protrusions as much as possible. Further, it is desirable that the front end surface 35 of the cylindrical portion 10A be inclined forward at the same angle as the snow-prevention plate 31 so as to form a substantially flat surface with the surface of the snow-prevention plate 31. Further, as a sealing structure of the snow accretion prevention plate 31, when the packing 32 projects forward from the surface of the snow accretion prevention plate 31 on the lower end side of the snow accretion prevention plate 31, this projection prevents the flow of the wind 36. , The upper surface thereof forms a shelf on which snow is accumulated, so that the packing 32 is attached to the snow-prevention plate 31.
It is preferable to have a seal structure that does not protrude as much as possible to the surface side of the. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the outer peripheral edge portion of the snow accretion prevention plate 31 is formed thick, the annular groove 37 is formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof, and the packing 32 is fitted in the annular groove 37. .

As another seal structure, a structure as shown in FIG. 4 can be considered. This seal structure has a snow accretion prevention plate 31.
The bent portion 31A bent backward is provided at the lower end of the
A packing 32 having a concave cross section and an annular groove 38 on the inner peripheral surface is fitted to the outer peripheral edge of the snow accretion prevention plate 31. In such a seal structure, the snow accretion preventive plate 3 of the packing 32 is provided at the lower end of the snow accretion preventive plate 31.
Although the upper surface 39 of the portion 32a protruding to the front surface side of 1 forms a shelf, since the bent portion 31A constitutes an eave protruding obliquely upward in the front, there is no possibility that snow will be accumulated on the upper surface 39. Further, even if it is piled up on the upper surface 39, a large deposition range is extremely small, and since it is within the range of the bent portion 31A at the maximum, it does not hinder the visual confirmation of the lighting color.

The lamp units 5B and 5C respectively emit yellow and blue signal colors, and differ from the above lamp unit 5A only in that they use light emitting diodes of yellow and blue, respectively. Since the other structures are completely the same, the description thereof will be omitted.

According to the traffic signal light device 1 having such a structure, snow does not reach the cover 6 (7, 8) and the snow-prevention plate 31 is arranged in a forward tilted state. , It is possible to prevent or reduce snow from accumulating on the surface of the snow accretion prevention plate 31 itself, and the visibility of the traffic signal light device 1,
The reliability can be improved. That is, when there is no wind or when the wind is weak, the snow does not reach the surface of the snow-prevention plate 31 and does not reach the surface. When the wind speed is higher than that of the snow reaching the surface of the snow-prevention plate 31, when the wind 36 hits the surface of the snow-prevention plate 31, the wind 36 will be generated.
The surface of 1 slows down or causes stagnation.
At the same time, the snow carried by the wind 36 stays on the surface of the snow-prevention plate 31, and if the surface temperature of the snow-prevention plate 31 at that time and the outside air temperature are within a certain range, the snow accompanies. When the wind 36 hits the front surface of the snow-prevention plate 31 that is tilted forward, most of the air-flow prevention plate 31 has a flow path hung down by the hood 10, so that most of the snow-prevention plate 31 is shown by an arrow in FIG.
Along the surface of the snow, the snow is blown evenly downward to blow off the snow that tends to adhere to the surface of the snow accretion prevention plate 31. Therefore, snowing can be prevented or reduced even during snowfall, and the lighting color of the lamp unit 5A can be surely visually recognized.

Further, according to the present invention, the snow accretion prevention plate 31 is attached to the hood 10 through the packing 32, and the cover 6 and the hood 1 are attached.
Since the space 34 surrounded by 0 and the snow accretion prevention plate 31 is hermetically sealed, there is no risk that snow, dust, small insects, etc. will enter the space 34 and adhere to the cover 6.
Therefore, it is not necessary to regularly clean the surface of the cover 6, maintenance-free, and the burden of maintenance management can be reduced.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. In this embodiment, the snow-prevention plate 40 is formed in a V-shape whose horizontal cross-section is convex toward the front side by bending the left and right side portions 40A and 40B at the center in the width direction to the rear side. It is incorporated in the hood 10 in a tilted state through packing (not shown). The seal structure between the hood 10 and the snow accretion prevention plate 40 is the same as the seal structure shown in FIG. The top 41 of the snow accretion prevention plate 40 does not necessarily have to be sharp, and may be curved in an arc shape as shown in FIG. 7.

In the snow accretion preventive plate 40 having such a structure, the wind 36 can be distributed to the left side and the right side of the top part 41 and uniformly flowed obliquely downward, so that it stays at the center part in the width direction. It is possible to reliably prevent snow from accumulating, and as in the above-described embodiment, the lamp unit 5
The lighting color of A can be surely visually recognized. In addition, even if there is a lower signal light device directly below, a wind escape path can be secured, so that the occurrence of wind stagnation due to the lower signal light device can be prevented.

[0029]

[Example] A snowstorm is artificially generated in a snowfall room, and an upper light and a lower light are alternately turned on for 30 seconds for one hour, and a conventional signal light device (incandescent light bulb type and LED type) and a snow accretion prevention plate are attached. Performance experiments of signal lamps (flat and V-shaped, forward tilt angle 20 °) were conducted. In addition, the temperature at that time is between about -10 and -5 ℃,
The amount of snow was about 35 mm / h and 28 mm / h, and the wind speed was 5 m / s and 3 m / s.

As a result of the experiment, as for the snow accretion prevention effect, regardless of the shape of the snow accretion prevention plate, more of the signal lamps that do not take the snow accretion prevention measures will snow, and the snow accretion prevention plate has a snow prevention effect. I found it expensive. More specifically, with regard to the signal light device that has taken measures to prevent snow accretion, the V-shaped snow accretion preventive plate is more effective in preventing snow accretion than the flat plate snow accretion preventive plate, and a clear difference appears as the wind speed increases. I understand.

If no snow landing prevention measures are taken, the wind speed is 3
At m / s and the amount of snow accumulation of about 35 mm / h, a lot of snow was seen on the lower surface of the cover surface in the light bulb type, and the amount of snow was 28
While the amount was 0 g, the LED type showed snow on the front surface of the cover surface, and the amount of snow was 210 g. In the light bulb type, this means that the snow once melted by the heat generated by the light bulb is frozen again in the lower part of the cover surface and is generated as a lump of snow. Since the LED type does not have a snow melting action, it can be seen that the cover surface continues to be snowed by the snowstorm. Even if there is snowfall due to vibrations, etc., the visibility of the lighting color will decrease if snowfall continues, so measures such as a snowfall prevention plate are essential.

[Snowing on packing] Snowing prevention plates 31, 4
A packing 32 is attached around 0 for waterproofing. When the packing 32 has a concave sectional shape as shown in FIG. 4, the packing 32 and the snow accretion prevention plate 31 or 4 are provided.
At the lower end of 0, when the front end portion of the packing 32 was projected forward from the surface of the snow accretion prevention plate 31 or 40, the upper surface 39 was hit with snow and was successively accreted. Therefore, the packing portion in the lower half is removed to make the front surface of the packing flush with the surface of the snow accretion prevention plate 31 or 40. In the flat snow-prevention plate 31, the hood of the lamp located under the own light fulfills the effect of a rack on which snow is accumulated,
The effect of removing the packing part is not seen.

On the other hand, in the V-shaped snow accretion prevention plate 40, when the snow accumulation amount is about 35 mm / h and the wind speed is 3 m / s, the snow accretion amount with packing is 48 g, whereas the snow accretion amount for removing packing is 18g, and when the wind speed is 5m / s, the snow accretion amount with packing is 88g, whereas the snow accrual amount with packing removed is 56g.
Therefore, it was found that removing the lower half packing part is more effective in preventing snow accretion.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a vertical type three-light type traffic signal lamp is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a vertical type two-light type,
It can also be applied to a horizontal three-light type traffic signal light device, a road sign plate, a guide plate, and the like. Further, the present invention can be applied not only to the LED type but also to a light bulb type display device.

[0035]

As described above, according to the display device of the present invention, it is possible to prevent snow from accumulating on the surface of the display, and to define the space defined by the hood, the display and the snow-prevention plate. It is possible to secure high visibility and reliability for a long period of time without ingress of dust, snow, insects, etc., and it is particularly suitable for use in traffic signal lights, signage devices and the like. Further, according to the present invention, even a display device using an LED as a light source, which generates a small amount of heat, is less affected by snow. Further, according to the present invention, since the packing does not project forward from the surface of the snow-prevention plate, the packing does not snow and accumulate. Furthermore, since the hood has a curved upper surface, the accumulated snow easily slips off, which reduces the amount of accumulated snow.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vertical type three-light type traffic signal light device installed at an intersection of an automobile road.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a signal light device.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing another embodiment of the snow landing prevention plate.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing still another embodiment of the snow landing prevention plate.

6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of the snow landing prevention plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... traffic light, 5A, 5B, 5C ...
6, 7, 8 ... Cover, 10 ... Hood, 10A ... Cylindrical part,
10B ... Semi-cylindrical part, 14 ... LED, 31 ... Snow prevention plate,
32 ... packing, 37, 38 ... annular groove, 40 ... snow accretion prevention plate.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A display device having a hood, a transparent snow-prevention plate disposed in front of the display device in a forward tilted state, and packing interposed between the snow-prevention plate and the hood. A display device, comprising: a space formed by the indicator, the snow accretion prevention plate, and the hood, which is sealed by the packing. 2. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the snow-prevention plate is formed in a mountain shape so that the horizontal cross-sectional shape is convex toward the front side in the widthwise central portion. . 3. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the packing does not project forward of the snow-prevention plate at least below the snow-prevention plate. 4. The display device according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein the display device uses an LED as a light source. 5. The display device according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein the display device is a traffic signal light device. 6. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the hood has a cylindrical shape on a proximal end side and a semicylindrical shape on a distal end side. 7. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the snow-prevention plate is formed in a mountain shape so that the horizontal cross-sectional shape is convex toward the front side in the widthwise central portion, and the packing is at least the snow-accumulation plate. It is characterized in that the indicator is a traffic signal lamp arranged at least above the traffic signal lamps arranged vertically in a row below the snow prevention plate without protruding forward from the snow accretion prevention plate. Display device.