JP2010204046A - Instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an instrument for improving the visibility during direct radiation of external light and performing information display having feeling of depth. <P>SOLUTION: The instrument 1 includes a case 2 whose front surface side is blocked by a light transmission plate 2a, a dial 3 arranged in the case 2, a pointer 4 that is arranged on the front side of the dial 3 in the case 2 and displays information based on the dial 3, a driving section 5 that is arranged in the case 2 and moves the pointer 4, a liquid crystal panel 6 that displays information by light emission and ejects the display information to the outside through the light transmission plate 2a, and a wiring board 7 that is arranged on the rear side of the dial 3 in the case 2 and forms a current carrying circuit of the driving section 5 and the liquid crystal panel 6. A rear cover 2b for covering the driving section 5 and the wiring board 7 is disposed on the rear side of the case 2. The liquid crystal panel 6 is arranged at the back of the wiring board 7. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an instrument that performs so-called analog display using a pointer and digital display using a liquid crystal panel or the like.

  As disclosed in Patent Document 1, an instrument in which analog display and digital display are mixed has been proposed. One conventional example of this type of instrument is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the vehicle instrument 100 includes a case 101 whose front side is covered with a front glass 101 a and whose back side is closed with a back cover 101 b, and a dial plate disposed in the case 101. 102, a dial 103 arranged on the front side of the dial 102 in the case 101 and displaying information based on the dial 102, a drive unit 104 arranged in the case 101 and moving the dial 103, and information by light emission A liquid crystal panel 105 that is a display means for displaying and a wiring board 106 that is disposed on the back side of the dial plate 102 in the case 101 and forms an energizing circuit for the driving unit 104 and the liquid crystal panel 105 and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the liquid crystal panel 105 is mounted on the surface of the wiring board 106 by a fixing member 107. Information displayed on the liquid crystal panel 105 passes through the dial plate 102, passes through the front glass 101a, and is emitted to the outside. Note that reference numeral 108 is a payback.

  According to this conventional example, the pointer 103 displays information suitable for analog display such as vehicle speed, and the liquid crystal panel 105 displays information suitable for digital display such as travel distance. To do. As a result, the instrument 100 is easy for an occupant to easily acquire various types of information.

JP 2001-239857 A

  However, in the instrument 100 of the conventional example, the liquid crystal panel 105 is mounted on the front side of the wiring board 106 and the digital display is displayed almost on the same plane as the dial plate 102. Therefore, there is a large adverse effect due to direct external light, that is, a phenomenon that black becomes close to white due to external light, and there is a problem that visibility is poor. Further, since the analog display and the digital display are almost the same surface, the information display is flat and there is no sense of depth.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a meter that can improve visibility when exposed to external light and can display information with a sense of depth.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a case in which the front side is closed with a light transmitting plate, a dial plate arranged in the case, and a front side of the dial plate in the case, and information based on the dial plate A pointer that displays the information, a drive unit that is arranged in the case and moves the pointer, display means for displaying information by light emission, and emitting the display information through the light transmission plate, and a dial in the case An instrument further comprising a wiring board disposed on the back side and forming a drive circuit and an energization circuit for the display means, and on the back side of the case, a back cover covering the drive part and the wiring board is provided. The display means is arranged behind the wiring board.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the instrument according to claim 1, wherein the display means is disposed inside the back cover, and the back cover is provided with a lid portion for taking out the display means. It is characterized by.

  A third aspect of the present invention is the meter according to the first aspect, wherein the display means is disposed outside the back cover.

  Invention of Claim 4 is an instrument in any one of Claims 1-3, Comprising: The said light transmissive board and the at least surface side of the said display means are things with a low light transmittance. Features.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the display display means is located deeper than the wiring board deeper than the dial, the adverse effect of direct external light is reduced, that is, the phenomenon that black becomes close to white due to external light. It is hard to occur and visibility improves. Further, since the analog display and the digital display are not on the same plane, a sense of depth appears in the information display.

  According to the invention of claim 2, since the display means can be easily taken out from the case, the replacement work when the display means breaks down is easy.

  According to the invention of claim 3, replacement work or the like when the display means breaks down is further facilitated.

  According to the invention of claim 4, a seamless (seamless) display is possible.

1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention and is a front view of a vehicle instrument. FIG. FIG. 2 shows the first embodiment of the present invention and is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows 1st Embodiment of this invention and shows the arrangement | positioning relationship between a wiring board and a liquid crystal panel. It is a sectional view of a meter for vehicles, showing a modification of a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing of the instrument for vehicles which shows 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the instrument for vehicles which shows a prior art example. It is a perspective view which shows a prior art example and shows the arrangement | positioning relationship between a wiring board and a liquid crystal panel.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 3 show a first embodiment in which a meter according to the present invention is applied to a vehicle meter, FIG. 1 is a front view of the vehicle meter 1, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an arrangement relationship between the wiring board 7 and the liquid crystal panel 6.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the vehicle instrument 1 includes, for example, a case 2 fixed to an instrument panel (not shown), a dial 3 disposed in the case 2, and characters in the case 2. Four pointers 4 arranged on the front side of the plate 3 and displaying information based on the dial plate 3, four driving units 5 arranged in the case 2 for moving the pointers 4, and a display for displaying information by light emission A liquid crystal panel (with backlight) 6 as means is provided, and a wiring board 7 that is disposed on the back side of the dial 3 in the case 2 and forms an energization circuit for the drive unit 5 and the liquid crystal panel 6.

  The case 2 is provided with a front glass 2a which is a light transmission plate so as to close the front surface side, and a back cover 2b is provided so as to close the back surface side thereof. The front glass 2a is formed of a member having a low light transmittance.

  On the dial plate 3, information characters are displayed at positions corresponding to the hands 4 by a light transmissive member. Each pointer 4 displays information in an analog display based on each information character. The display information includes vehicle speed, engine speed, and the like.

  The liquid crystal panel 6 is fixed to the back surface of the wiring board 7 in the case 2 and by a fixing member 8. That is, the liquid crystal panel 6 is disposed behind the wiring board 7 when viewed from the passenger. The liquid crystal panel 6 can be broadly classified into a simple matrix system such as STN system and DSTN system and an active matrix system such as TFT (thin film transistor) system. In this embodiment, a TFT type active matrix system is used. . The liquid crystal panel 6 displays information by digital display. The display information on the liquid crystal panel 6 is, for example, the total travel distance. The liquid crystal panel 6 is formed of a member having a low light transmittance at least on the surface side.

  As shown in FIG. 3, an opening 7 a is formed at a location corresponding to the liquid crystal panel 6 of the wiring board 7. Light emitted from the liquid crystal panel 6 passes through the opening 7a, passes through the dial plate 3, passes through the front glass 2a, and is emitted to the outside. If the dial 3 is not a light transmissive member, an opening is also formed at the location of the dial 3 corresponding to the liquid crystal panel 6. A connector portion 7 b is provided in the vicinity of the opening 7 a of the wiring board 7. The flexible wiring portion 6a of the liquid crystal panel 6 is connected to the connector portion 7b by insertion.

  The facing 10 is arranged on the surface side of the dial 3. The peripheral edge of the turning 10 is sandwiched between the front glass 2 a and the case 2 together with the peripheral edge of the dial 3.

  According to this vehicle instrument 1, the liquid crystal panel 6 is arranged behind the wiring board 7 when viewed from the passenger. Therefore, since the liquid crystal panel 6 is located further behind the wiring board 7 behind the dial plate 3, adverse effects due to direct external light are reduced, that is, a phenomenon in which black becomes close to white due to external light is less likely to occur. Will improve. Further, since the analog display and the digital display are not on the same plane, a sense of depth appears in the information display.

  In the first embodiment, since the front glass 2a and the surface side of the liquid crystal panel 6 are formed of members having low light transmittance, seamless (seamless) display is possible.

(Modification of the first embodiment)
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a vehicle instrument 1A according to a modification of the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, a vehicular instrument 1A according to a modification of the first embodiment has a lid portion that enables the liquid crystal panel 6 to be taken out from the back cover 1a as compared with that of the first embodiment. 11 is provided. The lid 11 is configured to shift between a closed position (solid line position) for closing the inside of the case 2 and an open position (virtual line position) for opening the case 2 and to be locked at the closed position. Since the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  In the modification of the first embodiment, the liquid crystal panel 6 is disposed inside the back cover 2b, and the cover 11 is provided on the back cover 2b. Therefore, the cover 11 of the back cover 2b is set to the open position. By doing so, the liquid crystal panel 6 can be easily taken out from the case 2. Therefore, the panel replacement work and the parts replacement work when the liquid crystal panel 6 breaks down are easy. In particular, the TFT type liquid crystal panel 6 and the OLED (organic EL panel) as in the second embodiment are convenient because parts may need to be replaced due to the lifetime of the display element / light emitting element.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the vehicle meter 20 of the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, in the vehicular instrument 20 of the second embodiment, the liquid crystal panel 6 is disposed on the back surface side of the back cover 2b as compared with that of the first embodiment. The liquid crystal panel 6 is fixed by a fixing member 21 of the back cover 2b. That is, the liquid crystal panel 6 is disposed outside the case 2 and behind the wiring board 7.

  Since the other configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

  In the second embodiment, since the liquid crystal panel 6 is disposed outside the case 2 and behind the wiring board 7, the liquid crystal panel 6 can be removed simply by releasing the fixing member 21. Therefore, the panel replacement work and the parts replacement work when the liquid crystal panel 6 breaks down are easy. In particular, the TFT type liquid crystal panel 6 and the OLED (organic EL panel) as in the second embodiment are convenient because parts may need to be replaced due to the lifetime of the display element / light emitting element.

  In the second embodiment, since the liquid crystal panel 6 is disposed outside the case 2, the heat dissipation performance of the liquid crystal panel 6 is improved. Moreover, since the heat accumulation in the case 2 of the vehicle meter 20 is reduced, the pointer error due to heat can be reduced.

(Other)
In the above-described embodiments and modifications, the display unit is configured by the liquid crystal panel 6, but any display unit that displays information by light emission may be used. For example, a display device that is driven and controlled by a digital signal such as a plasma display panel (PDP) or an organic EL panel may be used.

  In the above-described embodiments and modifications, the liquid crystal panel 6 is of the TFT type, but it goes without saying that other types of liquid crystal panels may be used.

1, 1A, 20 Instrument 2 Case 2a Front glass (light transmission plate)
2b Back cover 3 Dial 4 Pointer 5 Drive unit 6 Liquid crystal panel (display means)
7 Wiring board 10 Turn over 11 Lid

Claims (4)

A case whose front side is covered with a light transmission plate, a dial plate disposed in the case, a pointer disposed on the front side of the dial plate in the case, and displaying information based on the dial plate, A drive unit that is arranged in the case and moves the pointer, a display unit that displays information by light emission, and emits the display information to the outside through the light transmission plate, and a back side of the dial in the case And a wiring board that forms an energization circuit for the drive unit and the display means,
On the back side of the case, a back cover that covers the drive unit and the wiring board is provided,
The display device is arranged behind the wiring board. The instrument of claim 1, wherein
The instrument is characterized in that the display means is disposed inside the back cover, and the back cover is provided with a lid for taking out the display means. The instrument of claim 1, wherein
The instrument is characterized in that the display means is arranged outside the back cover. The instrument according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The instrument characterized in that the light transmitting plate and at least the surface side of the display means are low in light transmission.

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