JP2008031677A - Road surface freezing warning device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a road surface freezing warning device superior in responsiveness, durability and reliability, and stably usable without any hindrance even in a severe condition. <P>SOLUTION: A driving unit 5 is composed of a wax thermo-element 9 expanding and contracting a piston rod 12 by the thermal expansion-contraction action of built-in wax and a connecting arm material 13 connected to the piston rod tip of the wax thermo-element, and fixed to a back board 4 of a display body composed of a surface side panel 3 arranged with a large number of slit-shaped transparent windows 2 at equal intervals and the back board 4 covering the reverse surface of the surface side panel. A movable plate 25 connected to the connecting arm material is arranged between the surface side panel and the back board. A character or a figure for warning freezing is drawn in a lateral stripe pattern shape at the same pitch as the arranging interval of the transparent windows on the movable plate. The character or the figure for warning the freezing can be displayed on the surface side panel to be freely concealed and revealed by the expansion motion of the piston rod sensitive to an ambient temperature. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a freeze warning device, and more particularly, to a road freeze warning device that visually displays a road freezing danger state by the action of a wax thermo element.

Especially in cold regions and mountainous areas, the road surface of the road may freeze in the winter, and in order to prevent slip accidents, it is necessary to inform the driver that the road currently being driven is in danger of freezing. Needless to say, accurate notification is effective.
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  A number of road surface freezing warning devices that detect the risk of road surface freezing from the ambient temperature by means of temperature sensing means and emit visual warnings by electrical or mechanical means have been proposed. These road surface freezing warning devices have the property of being left outdoors for a long time under severe weather conditions, and are required to have high reliability without malfunctioning in any case. However, many of the road surface freezing warning devices that have been proposed in the past have many problems such as difficulty in durability and reliability, complicated and expensive structure, and the need for an external power source, which limits the installation location. The problem was included and was not always satisfactory.

  A road surface freezing warning device that selectively displays warning characters and figures on the display panel using the restoring action of shape memory alloy has also been proposed. There is no limit, and it has the advantage that it can be installed in mountainous areas and remote areas, but shape memory alloy has low power as a drive source, and when part of the device freezes due to moisture entering the device etc. The operation immediately stopped and cannot be used under harsh conditions, was unreliable, and could not be said to have sufficient practicality.

  As a result of earnest research to solve the above problems related to a device that warns of the danger of freezing of the road surface, the present inventor has a powerful power, an excellent response, and an ability to sense temperature with extremely high accuracy. Focusing on wax thermoelements with this, using this wax thermoelement as a drive source provides excellent response, durability and reliability, and can be used stably without any problems even under harsh conditions. The present inventors have succeeded in developing a road surface freezing warning device, which is proposed here as the present invention.

  Thermal expansion and contraction action of wax incorporated in the back plate of the display unit main body comprising a front side panel provided with a large number of slit-shaped transparent windows at equal intervals and a back plate covering the back side of the front side panel A drive unit consisting of a wax thermo element for extending and contracting the piston rod by means of a connecting arm member connected to the tip of the piston rod of the wax thermo element is fixed, and the connecting arm member is interposed between the front panel and the back plate. A movable plate connected to the movable plate is arranged, and a letter or a figure that warns freezing in a horizontal stripe pattern at the same pitch as the arrangement interval of the transparent windows is drawn on the movable plate, and the expansion and contraction motion of the piston rod that is sensitive to the ambient temperature Thus, the above-mentioned problem has been solved by allowing the characters or figures warning the freezing to be displayed in a concealable manner on the front panel.

  Depending on the movement of the piston rod of the wax thermoelement that is sensitive to the ambient temperature, letters or figures that warn of the risk of freezing are displayed in a transparent window on the display unit body in a concealable manner. The power at the time of elongation is much larger than the power at the time of restoration of the shape memory alloy, and the movable plate can be slid with a strong power, and it is used under poor conditions, for example, moisture that has entered the device. Even if the inside of the device freezes due to, it is possible to overcome it and slide the movable plate and display a warning, and it is highly reliable even in areas where maintenance inspections such as mountainous areas and remote areas cannot be easily performed It has the effect that the warning display can be performed stably while holding it. In addition, since the wax thermoelement itself is a small device, the drive part or the entire apparatus can be made compact. With the compactness, the installation and transportation, the manufacturing cost, etc. are reduced. Furthermore, it does not require external power such as electric power, and has great value from the viewpoint of energy saving.

  The greatest feature lies in the fact that a wax thermo-element having a strong power without requiring an external power source and excellent in responsiveness is adopted as a driving source of the warning device.

  1 is a front view showing a non-warning state of a freezing warning device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a display unit main body, which comprises an opaque front panel 3 in which a large number of slit-shaped transparent windows 2 are provided at regular intervals and a back plate 4 that covers the back surface of the front panel 3. The drive unit 5 is fixed to the back surface of the back plate 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the drive unit 5 includes a casing 8 having a vertically long box shape having an upper base 6 and a lower base 7, and a wax thermoelement 9 along its axis and a wax accommodating portion 10 on the lower side. And is accommodated in a state of being elastically floated by a coil spring 14 installed in a compressed state between the lower bottom 7 and the central step portion 11 of the wax thermoelement 9 and extending upward from the main body of the wax thermoelement 9. A connecting arm member 13 extending in the front and back direction perpendicular to the axis of the piston rod 12 is fixed to the tip of the piston rod 12, and a coil spring weaker than the coil spring 14 is provided between the upper surface and the lower bottom 6 of the connecting arm member 13. 15 is constructed in a compressed state, and the back side end 16 and the front side end 17 of the connecting arm member 13 are formed on the front side wall surface 18 and the back side wall surface 19 of the casing 8, respectively. It is obtained by respectively located in section 20, 21. The lower ends 22 of the openings 20 and 21 are formed at a position corresponding to the lower edge 23 of one transparent window 2, and the upper end 24 is formed at a position corresponding to the lower edge 27 of the transparent window 2 one above. The material 13 can slide up and down between 1 pitch of the arrangement interval of the transparent windows 2 formed at equal intervals.

  On the other hand, reference numeral 25 denotes a movable plate, which is disposed in a gap 26 formed between the front panel 3 and the back plate 4, and a front surface side end portion 17 of the connecting arm member 13 is provided on the back surface thereof. It is connected and can slide up and down by one pitch corresponding to the arrangement interval of the transparent windows 2 following the vertical movement of the connecting arm member 13. Further, on the surface of the movable plate 25, as shown in FIG. 5, characters for informing of the risk of freezing, for example, two characters “Frozen” and “Yui” are displayed on the display unit at the same pitch as the arrangement interval with the transparent window. 28 and the non-display part 29 are repeated at the same pitch as the arrangement interval of the transparent windows 2 and are displayed in a horizontal stripe pattern.

  Example 1 has the above-described configuration. If the operation start temperature of the wax thermoelement 9 is set to the road surface freezing temperature, for example, 3 ° C., in a state where there is no danger of road surface freezing. The wax incorporated in the wax thermoelement 9 expands, and the piston rod 12 expands accordingly, the frozen arm member 13 is at a high position as shown in FIG. 2, and the movable plate 25 is also disposed in the transparent window 2. A non-display portion 29 for characters that warn of freezing such as “freezing” and “setting” written on the surface is provided between the transparent windows 2. It is hidden from the opaque part and cannot be seen from the outside.

  On the other hand, when the ambient temperature is lowered to a temperature at which road surface may be frozen, for example, 3 ° C. or less, the wax in the wax thermoelement 9 contracts and the piston rod 12 is drawn into the wax thermoelement 9. Accordingly, the connecting arm member 13 connected to the piston rod 12 is also moved to a low position as shown in FIG. 3, and the movable plate 25 is also moved downward by one pitch of the arrangement interval of the transparent windows 2,. As shown in FIG. 3, the character display unit 28, which is displaced and warns of freezing such as “frozen” and “freeze” that has not been visible from the outside until now, is displaced to the position of the transparent window 2. It becomes visible from the transparent window 2, ..., so the driver knows the risk of freezing.

  In this way, characters that warn of the risk of freezing are concealed in the transparent window 2 of the display unit body 1 according to the movement of the piston rod 12 of the wax thermoelement 9 that is sensitive to the ambient temperature, and accordingly a warning is issued to the driver as appropriate. is there. The wax thermoelement 9 itself does not have a function of retracting the piston rod 12 as the built-in wax contracts. However, since the piston rod 12 is urged downward by the coil spring 15, the ambient temperature is reduced. It is possible to respond appropriately to changes and pull in quickly. Further, the power when the piston rod 12 of the wax thermoelement 9 is extended is much larger than the power when the shape memory alloy is restored, and accordingly, the coil spring 15 has a sufficiently strong elasticity. Since the movable plate 25 can be slid with strong power because it can be used, even if it is used under poor conditions, such as freezing in the device due to moisture that has entered the device, Overcoming this, the movable plate 25 is slid to have an effect of continuing to perform warning display appropriately and appropriately, and has extremely high practical value.

  In the field of ensuring the safety of road traffic, it has extremely great utility value.

The front view of the non-warning state of Example 1 of the freeze warning device concerning this invention. Similarly, the arrow AA line expanded sectional view in FIG. Similarly, the front view of the warning state. Similarly, the arrow BB line expanded sectional view in FIG. The front view of the surface side of the movable plate 15. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Display part main body 2 Transparent window 3 Front side panel 4 Back plate 5 Drive unit 6 Upper bottom 7 Lower bottom 8 Casing 9 Wax thermoelement 10 Wax accommodating part 11 Center level | step difference part 12 Piston rod 13 Connecting arm material 14 Coil spring 15 Coil spring 16 Back side End 17 Front side end 18 Front side wall surface 19 Back side wall surface 20 Opening portion 21 Opening portion 22 Lower end 23 Lower edge 24 Upper end 25 Movable plate 26 Gap 27 Lower edge 28 Display portion 29 Non-display portion

Claims (2)

Thermal expansion and contraction action of wax incorporated in the back plate of the display unit main body comprising a front side panel provided with a large number of slit-shaped transparent windows at equal intervals and a back plate covering the back side of the front side panel A drive unit consisting of a wax thermo element for extending and contracting the piston rod by means of a connecting arm member connected to the tip of the piston rod of the wax thermo element is fixed, and the connecting arm member is interposed between the front panel and the back plate. A movable plate connected to the movable plate is arranged, and a letter or a figure that warns freezing in a horizontal stripe pattern at the same pitch as the arrangement interval of the transparent windows is drawn on the movable plate, and the expansion and contraction motion of the piston rod that is sensitive to the ambient temperature The road surface freezing warning device is characterized in that the character or figure warning the freezing can be displayed on the front panel in a concealable manner. In a vertically long box-shaped casing having an upper base and a lower base, the wax thermoelement is placed along its axis with the wax containing part at the bottom, and between the lower base and the central step of the wax thermoelement. A connecting arm which is housed in a state of being elastically floated by a coil spring erected in a compressed state, and which extends in the front-back direction perpendicular to the axis of the piston rod at the tip of the piston rod extending upward from the main body of the wax thermoelement The material is fixed, and a coil spring weaker than the coil spring is laid in a compressed state between the upper surface and the lower bottom of the connecting arm member, and the back side end portion and the front side end portion of the connecting arm member are connected to the surface side wall surface of the casing and 2. The road surface freezing warning device according to claim 1, wherein the drive unit is configured to be positioned in an opening formed in each of the back side wall surfaces.

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