JP2003272063A - Sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To restrain a cost by reducing the number of parts less than the number of parts where a protective part and an announcement display part are formed of a different member. <P>SOLUTION: This sensor is provided with a sensor 1, the protective part 11 for protecting the sensor 1, an LED3 turned on when necessary, and the announcement display part 12 for announcing and displaying the effect of turning on the LED3 by passing the light from the LED3. The protective part 11 and the announcement display part 12 are formed of the same transparent or semitransparent member as a protection announcement display member 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sensor, and more particularly to reducing the cost as compared with the case where the protection means for protecting the sensor and the display means for indicating that the light source is lit are formed by different members. Can be a sensor. The sensor of the present invention can be applied to various sensors such as a heat sensor, a smoke sensor, and a gas leak sensor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a sensor, a protection means for protecting the sensor, a light source that is turned on when necessary, and a light from the light source are transmitted to indicate that the light source is turned on. A sensor comprising a display means is known. An example of this type of sensor is, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
There is one described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 001-14570. The sensor described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-14570 is a scattered light smoke sensor, and in this sensor, a light emitting element and a light receiving element are provided as sensors. Further, a body case made of a white resin member is provided as a protection means for protecting the sensor. Further, an LED is provided as a light source, which is turned on during the operation of the sensor. Further, a light guide member made of a light transmissive material is provided as a display means for displaying that the light source is turned on. That is, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-145
According to the sensor described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 70, the sensor can be protected from an external impact by the main body case as the protection means, and the light source is turned on by the light guide member as the display means. Can be displayed.

[0003]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 200
In the sensor described in JP-A-14-14570, the main body case as the protection means and the light guide member as the display means are formed by different members. for that reason,
The number of parts increases and the cost increases as compared with the case where the protection means and the display means are formed of the same member.

Further, in order to avoid the cost increase due to the protection means and the display means being formed of different members, a method of eliminating the display means and exposing the light source to the outside can be considered. . However, when the display means is excluded and the light source is exposed to the outside, the external shape of the entire sensor is limited by the shape of the light source, and the external shape of the entire sensor cannot be changed to a desired shape. Will end up.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is a sensor which can reduce the cost as compared with the case where the protection means for protecting the sensor and the display means for indicating that the light source is lit are formed by different members. The purpose is to provide.

[0006]

According to the invention described in claim 1, a sensor and a protection means for protecting the sensor,
In a sensor equipped with a light source that is turned on as necessary and a display means that transmits the light from the light source to display that the light source is turned on, the protective means and the display means are transparent or semi-transparent. Provided is a sensor formed by the same transparent member.

In the detector according to the first aspect, the protection means for protecting the sensor and the display means for indicating that the light source is lit are formed by the same transparent or translucent member. Therefore, the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be suppressed as compared with the case where the protection unit and the display unit are formed of different members such as the sensor described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-14570.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the display means is formed in a cylindrical shape, the light source is arranged on one end surface side of the cylindrical display means, and the other end surface of the cylindrical display means is arranged. The sensor according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is inclined with respect to the central axis of the cylinder.

In the sensor according to the second aspect, the display means is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the light source is arranged on one end surface side of the cylindrical display means. Therefore, most of the light emitted from the light source enters the cylindrical display means through the end face thereof, and can travel to the other end face while being reflected on the peripheral surface of the cylinder. Further, the other end surface of the cylindrical display means is inclined with respect to the central axis of the cylinder. That is, the area of the end face is made larger than that in the case where the end face is perpendicular to the central axis of the cylinder. Therefore, the end face can be visually recognized from a wider angle than when the end face is perpendicular to the central axis of the cylinder. That is, it is possible to visually recognize that the light source is turned on from a wider angle than when the end surface is perpendicular to the central axis of the cylinder.

According to the third aspect of the invention, there is provided the sensor according to the second aspect, wherein irregularities are formed on the other end surface of the cylindrical display means.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the concavo-convex is formed on the other end surface of the cylindrical display means. That is, the light emitted from the light source, incident on the cylindrical display means through one end face, and traveling to the other end face while being reflected on the peripheral surface of the cylinder is scattered by the unevenness on the other end face. . Therefore, it is possible to visually recognize that the light source is turned on from a wider angle than when the other end face is formed flat.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the sensor of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of the sensor shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a left side view of the sensor shown in FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the sensor shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the sensor shown in FIG. 1 to 5, reference numeral 1 is a thermal sensor. In the present embodiment, the heat-sensitive sensor 1 is arranged in the sensor, but in other embodiments, an arbitrary sensor such as a smoke detection sensor, a CO sensor, a hydrogen carbonate gas sensor may be arranged instead of the heat-sensitive sensor. it can. Reference numeral 2 is a protection alarm display member having a function of protecting the thermal sensor 1 from an external impact and a function of displaying that a light source, which will be described later, is on. 3 is an LED as a light source. The LED 3 is turned on as needed. Specifically, the LED 3 is turned on when the thermal sensor 1 detects an abnormality. In the present embodiment, the LED is turned on when an abnormality is detected by the thermal sensor, but in other embodiments, instead,
It is also possible to light the LED when the thermal sensor is activated. Reference numeral 4 is a main body cover.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the protective alarm display member shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, FIG. 7 is a front view of the protective alarm display member shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is the protective alarm display member shown in FIG. FIG. 9 is a left side view of the alarm display member, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the protective alarm display member shown in FIG. 6 to 9, 11 is a protection unit for protecting the heat-sensitive sensor 1, and 12 is an indicator for notifying and displaying to the user that the LED 3 is lit by transmitting light from the LED 3. It is a report display unit. As shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the protective alarm display member of the present embodiment is formed of one transparent member. In other embodiments,
Alternatively, the protective alarm display member can be formed of a single semitransparent member.

As shown in detail in FIGS. 8 and 9, the alarm display unit 12 of the present embodiment is formed in a cylindrical shape. L
The ED3 (see FIG. 4) is arranged on one end face 21 side of the cylindrical alarm display unit 12 and has the cylindrical alarm display unit 12
The other end face 22 of is inclined with respect to the central axis CL of the cylinder. In addition, in order to improve the strength of the protection unit 11, the alarm display unit 12 is arranged integrally with a pillar that constitutes a part of the protection unit 11.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of the other end surface of the cylindrical alarm display portion shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. As shown in FIG. 10, minute irregularities are formed on the other end surface 22 of the cylindrical alarm display portion.

According to the above-described embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the protection portion 11 for protecting the thermal sensor 1 (see FIG. 4) and the LED 3 (see FIG. 4) are turned on. A warning display unit 12 that displays a message to that effect is formed of the same transparent or translucent member as the protection warning display member 2. Therefore, the number of parts is reduced as compared with the case where the protection part and the alarm display part are formed by different members,
The cost can be suppressed.

Further, according to the above-described embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6 to 9, the alarm display unit 12 is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the LED 3 is included in the cylindrical alarm display unit 12. It is arranged on one end face 21 side. Therefore, LE
Most of the light emitted from D3 passes through one end face 21 of the cylindrical warning display unit 12 and the cylindrical warning display unit 1
The light can be incident on the inside of No. 2 and reflected on the peripheral surface of the cylinder and proceed to the other end surface 22. Further, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the other end face 22 of the alarm display unit 12 having a cylindrical shape is inclined with respect to the central axis line CL of the cylinder. That is, the area of the other end surface 22 is made wider than that in the case where the other end surface 22 is perpendicular to the central axis CL of the cylinder. Therefore, the user can visually recognize the other end surface 22 from a wider angle than when the other end surface 22 is perpendicular to the central axis CL of the cylinder. That is, the user can visually recognize that the LED 3 is turned on from a wider angle than when the other end surface 22 is perpendicular to the central axis CL of the cylinder.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the other end surface 2 of the cylindrical alarm display unit 2
Irregularities are formed on the surface 2. In other words, the light emitted from the LED 3, incident on the one end face 21 into the cylindrical alarm display unit 12, and reflected on the peripheral surface of the cylinder and traveling to the other end face 22 is on the other end face 22. It is scattered by the unevenness of. Therefore, the LED 3 is viewed from a wider angle than when the other end surface 22 is formed flat.
The user can visually confirm that is lit.

[0020]

According to the invention described in claim 1, JP
The number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be suppressed as compared with the case where the protection unit and the display unit are formed by different members like the sensor described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 001-14570.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the end surface of the cylindrical display means can be visually recognized from a wider angle than when the other end surface of the display means is perpendicular to the central axis of the cylinder. . That is, it is possible to visually recognize that the light source is turned on from a wider angle than when the other end surface of the cylindrical display unit is perpendicular to the central axis of the cylinder.

According to the third aspect of the invention, it is possible to visually recognize that the light source is turned on from a wider angle than when the other end surface of the cylindrical display means is formed flat.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of the sensor of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the sensor shown in FIG.

3 is a left side view of the sensor shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the sensor shown in FIG.

5 is a bottom view of the sensor shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the protection alarm display member shown in FIGS.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the protection alert display member shown in FIG.

8 is a left side view of the protection alert display member shown in FIG.

9 is a perspective view of the protection alert display member shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of the other end face of the cylindrical alarm display unit shown in FIGS. 8 and 9;

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Thermal sensor 2 Protection alert display member 3 LED 4 Body cover 11 Protection 12 Alert display section 21 One end face 22 The other end face

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 5C087 AA11 AA23 CC02 DD04 EE04                       EE05 FF04 GG80                 5G405 AA01 CA16 FA06

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A sensor, a protection unit that protects the sensor, a light source that is turned on if necessary, and a display unit that displays that the light source is turned on by transmitting light from the light source. A sensor comprising: a protective means and a display means formed of the same transparent or translucent member. 2. The display means is formed in a cylindrical shape, the light source is arranged on one end surface side of the cylindrical display means, and the other end surface of the cylindrical display means is inclined with respect to the central axis of the cylinder. The sensor according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a sensor. 3. The sensor according to claim 2, wherein unevenness is formed on the other end face of the cylindrical display means.