JP2012062718A - Crosswalk using organic el lighting - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in which the visibility of a pedestrian crossing a crosswalk considerably decreases at nighttime.SOLUTION: An organic EL panel is imbedded in a crosswalk and the organic EL panel is allowed to emit light according to a change in the surrounding illumination, which improves its visibility. The visibility for a crosswalk automatic detection device in a vehicle is also improved, and therefore, erroneous detection of the automatic detection device can be decreased. Furthermore, the timing of light emission allows particular information to be provided to the automatic detection device.

Description

  The present invention relates to a pedestrian crossing formed on a road on which a vehicle travels.

  Conventionally, various studies have been conducted on a pedestrian crossing that indicates a position where a pedestrian crosses a vehicle traffic zone in order to ensure the safety of the pedestrian.

  For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a system in which a pedestrian or a bicycle can safely cross by using a detection sensor that detects a pedestrian or a bicycle trying to cross a pedestrian crossing and a light emitting means.

JP 2006-265989 A

  However, in the system disclosed in Patent Document 1, a high-intensity light-emitting diode is used as the light-emitting element, and the shape of the light source is a dot shape. If such a point light source is used to brightly illuminate a pedestrian or bicycle, the vehicle driver may be impeded by driving, and the risk may increase.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to propose a system that does not hinder driving of a vehicle driver while improving the visibility of a pedestrian or a bicycle.

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 is a pedestrian crossing formed in a direction crossing a vehicle lane on a road, and has an organic EL light emitting layer that emits white light, and the light emitting surface thereof An organic EL panel disposed facing upward, and protective means disposed on the organic EL panel and protecting the organic EL panel,

  Control means for instructing the organic EL panel to emit light.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the pedestrian crossing according to the first aspect, the control means further includes a detection means for detecting a pedestrian or a bicycle driver passing on the pedestrian crossing, and the control The means instructs the organic EL panel to emit light when the detecting means detects a pedestrian or a bicycle driver.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the pedestrian crossing according to the first or second aspect, the control means is a traffic light that regulates the crossing of a pedestrian or a bicycle driver passing through the pedestrian crossing. And instructing the organic EL panel to emit light based on the information.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the pedestrian crossing according to any one of the first to third aspects, the control means is specified by a predetermined device by increasing or decreasing the amount of light emitted from the organic EL panel. The signal identified as the information is generated.

  In the present invention, since the pedestrian crossing itself emits light, it is possible to satisfactorily illuminate pedestrians and bicycle drivers who pass at night, and visibility can be obtained. Further, by using an organic EL panel as a light emitter, light emission with high luminance is possible. Furthermore, it is possible to emit light even in an environment such as on a road by providing a protective means on the upper part of the organic EL panel which is weak in strength.

  In particular, according to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to emit light only when there are pedestrians or bicycle drivers passing through the crossing report, and it is possible to reduce power consumption.

  In particular, according to the invention of claim 3, it is possible to emit light only when necessary in conjunction with information from a traffic light.

  In particular, according to the invention of claim 4, it is possible to further ensure the safety of pedestrians by transmitting information from a pedestrian crossing to a predetermined device.

It is a figure which shows the outline of the pedestrian crossing which is the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the detail of a pedestrian crossing. It is sectional drawing which shows the AA cross section of FIG. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the control means of a pedestrian crossing. It is a figure which shows the light emission timing of a pedestrian crossing. It is a figure which shows the outline of the pedestrian crossing which is the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a road including a pedestrian crossing 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. On the road, a vehicle traffic zone 6 defined by the central separation zone 2 is formed in the vertical direction, and sidewalks 7 are defined on the left and right sides of the vehicle traffic zone 6. A pedestrian crossing 1 is formed at a position crossing the vehicle lane 6, and a stop line 3 is formed on the front side of the pedestrian crossing 1 in each vehicle lane 6. Although only a part is shown in the figure, a road continues in the vertical direction in the figure.

  The pedestrian crossing 1 is an instruction display for clearly indicating a position where a pedestrian or a bicycle is allowed to cross in a direction crossing the vehicle lane 6. Generally, it is formed by arranging a straight line in the illustrated vertical direction having a width of 45 cm to 50 cm in a ladder shape between two straight lines in the illustrated horizontal direction having a width of 15 cm to 30 cm.

  The median strip 2 is a regulation sign formed in a dotted line shape with a length of 3 m to 10 m. On the left side of the median strip 2, the vehicle 5 passes from the bottom upward, and on the right side of the median strip 2, The vehicle 5 passes from the top to the bottom.

The stop line 3 is generally a white paint having a width of 30 cm to 45 cm, which is an instruction display for clearly indicating a position where the vehicle 5 stops in front of the pedestrian crossing 1.
The sidewalk 7 is separated from a vehicle lane by a roadside belt or a curbstone, and is a lane where pedestrians pass.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing details of the pedestrian crossing 1. The pedestrian crossing 1 includes a light emitting unit 11, a control device 13, and a pedestrian crossing frame 10.
The pedestrian crossing frame 10 is formed of a white paint like the conventional pedestrian crossing, and is formed by being applied on the road 6. And the pedestrian crossing frame 10 is apply | coated so that the circumference | surroundings of the protection plate 14 mentioned later may be enclosed.

  The light emitting unit 11 is an organic EL panel arranged so as to occupy a substantially central portion of a ladder-like pedestrian crossing frame 10 (vertical direction in the drawing) of the pedestrian crossing 1, and emits white light. Specifically, it is a rectangular flat organic EL panel having an organic EL light-emitting layer formed on a substrate such as glass or resin and having a width of 25 cm, a length of 2.5 m, and a thickness of about 5 mm.

The control device 13 is provided at two locations with respect to the pedestrian crossing 1 and is connected to each light emitting unit 11 by a wiring 14.
The control device 13 is a device that controls the light emission timing of the light emitting unit 11, and details thereof will be described later.
The control device 13 is provided at an end portion in the direction in which the vehicle 5 approaches the pedestrian crossing 1.

  The protection plate 14 is a plate for protecting the light emitting unit 11. Specifically, it is formed of a transparent resin, and is arranged at the center of the pedestrian crossing 1 on the road 8 with a slight distance from the light emitting unit 11. The protection plate 14 protects the light emitting unit 11 from being adversely affected by rainwater or the like. Moreover, it has a thickness of about several tens of millimeters so that a load from the vehicle 5 traveling on the road 8 is not directly applied to the light emitting unit 11. Specifically, it is made of engineering plastic such as polycarbonate.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the AA cross section of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, a recess 81 is formed on the ground corresponding to the center of the pedestrian crossing frame 10 of the pedestrian crossing 1. Inside the recessed portion 81, the light emitting portion 11 is disposed at the center of the pedestrian crossing frame 10 via the cushioning material 15.
In the drawing, the thickness of the light-emitting portion 11 is drawn with emphasis, but the thickness is actually about 5 mm. In addition, the light emitting unit 11 is disposed on the buffer material 15 and is actually in contact with the light emitting unit 11 but is illustrated with a slight gap for convenience of illustration.

The buffer material 15 is formed of a material that absorbs an impact in order to prevent the light emitting unit 11 from being damaged even when the weight of the vehicle 5 is applied to the light emitting unit 11 via the protective plate 14. Specifically, it is formed of an elastic body such as rubber or a foam material that absorbs a load.
Moreover, the lower surface of the buffer material 15 is formed with a semi-cylindrical space extending in the longitudinal direction. Thereby, the elastic deformation of the buffer material 15 is facilitated, and the shock is easily absorbed.

The protection plate 14 is formed to be curved in a convex shape upward. This is a shape for giving strength within a range that does not hinder the passage of the vehicle 5. In addition, since the light emitted from the light emitting unit 11 is refracted on the front and back surfaces of the protective plate 14, the protective plate 14 is convex so that the pedestrian crossing 1 can be easily seen from the side. .
In FIG. 3, the convex shape is emphasized, but in actuality, the convex shape is about 5 mm, and the influence of the vehicle 5 passing on the pedestrian crossing 1 is minimized.

Next, the control device 13 will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, the control device 13 includes a control unit 130, a pedestrian detection unit 131, and a vehicle detection unit 132, and is electrically connected to the external power supply 9 and the light emitting unit 11.

  The pedestrian detection unit 131 is a sensor that detects a pedestrian waiting for crossing the pedestrian crossing 1, a bicycle, and the like. Specifically, an infrared sensor that detects heat generated from a pedestrian and a bicycle driver is used. When a pedestrian and a bicycle driver who are stationary for a predetermined time are detected on the sidewalk in front of the pedestrian crossing 1, the information is transmitted to the control unit 130.

  The vehicle detection unit 132 is a sensor that detects that the vehicle 5 is approaching the pedestrian crossing 1. Specifically, the light emitted from the headlight of the vehicle 5 is received by an illuminance (light quantity) sensor to detect that the vehicle 5 is approaching and provide information to the control unit 130.

The illuminance sensor provides day and night information by measuring the amount of light in the vicinity. Therefore, the control unit 130 can cause the light emitting unit 11 to emit light only at night based on the information provided from the vehicle detection unit 132.
The vehicle detector 131 can be a light quantity measuring element using a general photoelectric element.
The external power supply 9 is usually supplied with power directly from the substation equipment via the ground, but the detailed description is omitted.

  5A to 5C are diagrams showing the light emission timing of the light emitting unit 11. The horizontal axis indicates time, and the vertical axis indicates the amount of light when the light emitting unit 11 emits light.

  FIG. 5a shows that the operation in which the light emitting unit 11 emits light for a predetermined light emission time t1 and then turns off for a predetermined light turn-off time t2 is continuously repeated. Further, the light emission time t1 and the turn-off time t2 are set to be longer for t1.

By emitting light in this way, light is emitted from below by the light emitting unit 11 even in a situation where it is difficult for the driver of the vehicle 5 to see a pedestrian or bicycle crossing the pedestrian crossing 1 such as at night or in rainy weather. By doing so, it becomes possible to visually recognize a pedestrian or a bicycle. Further, by repeating light emission / extinguishing, it is possible to visually recognize a pedestrian or a bicycle more clearly.
Furthermore, since no power is consumed during the turn-off time t2, power consumption can be suppressed.

  In particular, when the pedestrian crossing 1 emits light, detection of a pedestrian crossing by an automatic detection device for a pedestrian crossing mounted on the vehicle 5 is facilitated, and erroneous detection can be prevented. Here, the automatic detection device for a pedestrian crossing is a pedestrian crossing formed on the vehicle lane 6 by image acquisition means (CCD camera or the like) mounted on the vehicle 5 as described in various documents. 1 is a mechanism that recognizes an image of 1 and gives information of the pedestrian crossing 1 to a driver and a control device of the vehicle 5 itself.

  Further, the control unit 13 controls the light emitting unit 11 to emit light only when the pedestrian or the bicycle crosses and the vehicle 5 approaches by the pedestrian detection unit 131 and the vehicle detection unit 132. Therefore, power consumption can be reduced.

  FIG. 5b shows that the light emitting unit 11 emits light for a predetermined light emission time t1 and then turns off for a predetermined light turn-off time t2 in the same manner as in FIG. 5a described above. The difference is that the signal 20 (in the figure, two ON-OFF repetitions) is embedded at the beginning of the light emission time t1. In the figure, for convenience of explanation, the signal 20 is drawn larger than the light emission time t1, but actually, a plurality of ON-OFF operations are repeated in about several milliseconds.

This signal 20 is a signal that is detected by an automatic detection device for a pedestrian crossing mounted on the vehicle 5 and processed as specific information.
The automatic detection apparatus can recognize ON / OFF of the light amount and recognize that a pedestrian is crossing the pedestrian crossing 1. Therefore, when the automatic detection device is mounted on the vehicle 5, the driver can easily pay more attention to the pedestrian crossing 1 and can travel safely to the pedestrian. is there.
Furthermore, when the vehicle 5 is equipped with an automatic speed control device, the speed of the vehicle 5 can be reduced by the information from the pedestrian crossing 1, so that it is possible to travel more safely for pedestrians. It becomes possible.

  Further, the light amount when the light emitting unit 11 emits light is not the two-stage light emission of the ON state or the OFF state as described in FIG. 5A or 5B, but the light emission time t1 as illustrated in FIG. 5C, for example. The amount of light may be increased or decreased step by step. By doing in this way, the driver of the vehicle 5 can visually recognize the pedestrian crossing 1 and the pedestrian who is crossing relatively gently.

  In the above description, the light emission time t1 and the turn-off time t2 are repeated. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is possible to further improve the visibility by always emitting light. However, if the light is always emitted in this way, power consumption increases.

  Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an outline of a road including the pedestrian crossing 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The same members as those in the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In the road shown in FIG. 6, the vehicle lane 6 is formed in the vertical direction as in the first embodiment, but there is an intersection 8 in the downward direction in the figure, and the vehicle lane 6 is also formed in the left and right direction. ing. Therefore, a pedestrian signal 53 is disposed at the end of the pedestrian crossing 1.

  The pedestrian signal 53 is disposed above the boundary line between the sidewalk 7 and the pedestrian crossing 1 from the support column 51 through the auxiliary bar 52. Therefore, a pedestrian or a bicycle who wants to cross the pedestrian crossing 1 from the sidewalk 7 waits for the pedestrian signal 53 or starts to cross.

  The pedestrian crossing 1 in the second embodiment of the present invention includes the control unit 13 as in the first embodiment, and the control unit 13 is electrically connected to the pedestrian signal 53.

  Thus, the pedestrian crossing 1 is controlled to emit light when the pedestrian signal 53 is blue, and the pedestrian crossing 1 is controlled not to emit light when the pedestrian signal 53 is red. By controlling in this way, the timing at which crossing can be seen from a pedestrian can be grasped more clearly.

  In addition, when the pedestrian detection unit 131 of the control unit 13 detects that the pedestrian has started crossing the pedestrian crossing 1 even though the pedestrian signal 53 is red, a warning is given to the pedestrian. It is possible to make the pedestrian crossing 1 emit light so as to be displayed.

Specifically, it is possible to issue a warning to a pedestrian by increasing the blinking frequency instead of repeating the gentle light emission / extinguishing as shown in FIG. 5a.
Furthermore, when the vehicle 5 is equipped with an automatic detection device for a pedestrian crossing, it is possible to prevent an accident beforehand by issuing a signal 20 informing the approaching vehicle 5 of the danger.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Crosswalk 2 ... Median strip 3 ... Stop line 5 ... Vehicle 6 ... Vehicle lane 8 ... Intersection 9 ... External power supply 10 ... Crosswalk frame 11・ ・ ・ Light emitting unit 13 ・ ・ ・ Control device 14 ・ ・ ・ Protection plate 15 ・ ・ ・ Buffer material 20 ・ ・ ・ Signal 53 ・ ・ ・ Pedestrian signal 81 ・ ・ ・ Depression 130 ・ ・ ・ Control unit 131 .. Pedestrian detection unit 132 ... Vehicle detection unit

Claims (4)

A pedestrian crossing formed in a direction crossing a vehicle lane on the road,
An organic EL panel having an organic EL light-emitting layer that emits white light and having its light-emitting surface facing upward;
Protective means disposed on the organic EL panel and protecting the organic EL panel;
Control means for instructing the organic EL panel to emit light;
A pedestrian crossing characterized by comprising. In the pedestrian crossing according to claim 1,
The control means further comprises detection means for detecting a pedestrian or a bicycle driver passing on the pedestrian crossing,
The pedestrian crossing, wherein the control means instructs the organic EL panel to emit light when the detection means detects a pedestrian or a bicycle driver. In the pedestrian crossing according to claim 1 or 2,
The control means obtains information from a traffic light that regulates crossing for a pedestrian or bicycle driver who passes through the pedestrian crossing, and instructs the organic EL panel to emit light based on the information. A pedestrian crossing characterized by In the pedestrian crossing according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The pedestrian crossing characterized in that the control means generates a signal identified as specific information by a predetermined device by increasing or decreasing the amount of light emitted from the organic EL panel.

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