JP2012063305A - Instrument for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an instrument for a vehicle using an electrostatic countermeasure technique whose manufacture and assembly are easy and which can suppress fluctuation of costs even when a plurality of liquid crystal display panels are provided.SOLUTION: An instrument 1 for the vehicle includes: a glass front 13 (glass part); liquid crystal display panels 20 arranged to be visible for a driver through an opening 11a (opening on the dial side) formed on a dial 11; and a circuit board 30 which performs drive control of the liquid crystal display panels 20. On the sides of the panel surfaces 21 of the liquid crystal display panels 20, flexible conductors 40 formed by coating copper foil 41 (conductive metal foil) with an insulation film 42 as an earth member to be grounded via the circuit board 30 are provided in order to let static electricity discharged from the glass front 13 toward the liquid crystal display panels 20 out.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular instrument provided with a liquid crystal display panel, and more particularly to a vehicular instrument with a countermeasure against static electricity applied to the liquid crystal display panel.

As a vehicle instrument of this type, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1 below, a liquid crystal display panel is fixed to the front portion of a resin holder by a metal frame-like frame at the front peripheral edge thereof, and the rear of the holder A type in which a circuit board is fixed to a surface portion is known. The frame-shaped frame is integrally formed with an energizing arm piece extending through the holder and extending toward the circuit board, and the energizing arm piece is connected to the ground line of the circuit board.
For example, as shown in Patent Document 2 below, a type in which a liquid crystal display panel is fixed to a front case together with a circuit board via a liquid crystal support member is also known. A facing plate coated with a semiconductive film (carbon black) is disposed in front of the liquid crystal display panel, and the facing plate is connected to the ground circuit of the circuit board via a terminal.
In the vehicle instrument described in Patent Document 1 below, static electricity discharged toward the liquid crystal display panel flows through the energizing arm piece formed integrally with the frame-shaped frame and escapes to the ground side via the circuit board. Further, in the vehicle instrument described in Patent Document 2 below, static electricity discharged toward the liquid crystal display panel flows through the semiconductive film applied to the facing plate, and further flows through the terminal via the circuit board. Escape to the ground side. For this reason, according to the vehicle instrument described in each patent document, it is possible to satisfactorily prevent erroneous display or abnormal display of the liquid crystal display panel due to the influence of static electricity.

JP 2009-237220 A JP 2009-216700 A

However, in the electrostatic countermeasure technique described in Patent Document 1 above, after the liquid crystal display panel is surrounded by the frame-shaped frame, the frame-shaped frame is assembled to the holder, and then further to ensure conduction with the circuit board. In addition, additional work is required to bend the energizing arm pieces. Moreover, when assembling to the holder, the holder may be damaged or broken. When the holder is broken, there are many manufacturing problems such as generation of foreign matter. Further, when a plurality of liquid crystal display panels are provided, a plurality of frame-like frames are required correspondingly, which increases the number of parts and the man-hours in the assembly process.
On the other hand, the electrostatic countermeasure technique described in Patent Document 2 has a problem in that it is difficult to ensure the quality of the semiconductive film in manufacturing, and the number of steps in the inspection process increases.

  The present invention has been made in order to address the above-described problems, and its purpose is to be easy to manufacture and assemble, and to be able to suppress cost fluctuations even when a plurality of liquid crystal display panels are provided. The object is to provide a vehicle instrument using an electric countermeasure technique.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a liquid crystal display panel disposed so as to be visible to a driver through a glass part and a dial-side opening formed in the dial, and a circuit for driving and controlling the liquid crystal display panel. As a grounding member grounded via a circuit board on a panel surface side of a liquid crystal display panel, in order to release static electricity discharged from the glass part toward the liquid crystal display panel. The flexible conductor which coat | covered the conductive metal foil with the insulating film is provided.

  According to the vehicle instrument of the present invention, a flexible conductor in which a conductive metal foil is covered with an insulating film is provided as an earth member. The flexible conductor has a structure similar to a wiring material in which an electric circuit is formed of a copper foil on an insulating film such as FPC (Flexible printed circuits). Therefore, by using such a flexible conductor, it becomes easy to create a conductive metal foil in a desired shape (for example, shape creation by pressing), and the conductive metal foil is covered with an insulating film. Therefore, it becomes easy to bend, and the degree of freedom during assembly can be improved satisfactorily.

  In this case, the flexible conductor is formed with a conductor-side opening having a size including the dial-side opening, and the opening edge of the conductor-side opening becomes invisible through the dial-side opening. It is preferable that the flexible conductor is disposed between the back surface of the dial and the panel surface of the liquid crystal display panel.

  According to this, since the flexible conductor is hidden by the dial, the visibility of the design of the dial and the visibility of the liquid crystal display panel can be ensured satisfactorily.

  Further, the conductive metal foil may be a metal foil exposed portion that is exposed to the outside by peeling off a part of the insulating film on the back side of the dial.

  According to this, since the static electricity discharged from the glass part easily flows toward the exposed metal foil portion of the flexible conductor, it is possible to almost certainly prevent the static electricity from being transmitted to the liquid crystal display panel.

  Also, a plurality of liquid crystal display panels are provided, and the flexible conductor has a conductor-side opening corresponding to each liquid crystal display panel, and the conductive metal foil has a frame shape surrounding each conductor-side opening. It is preferable that the conductive metal foils are formed and connected to each other so that the ground continuity to the circuit board is set at one place.

  According to this, since the connection part can be easily handled, the workability of assembling the flexible conductor to the circuit board can be improved satisfactorily.

The front view which shows an example of the vehicle meter which concerns on this invention. The disassembled perspective view of the vehicle instrument shown in FIG. AA sectional drawing of FIG. The enlarged front view of the flexible conductor shown in FIG. The principal part expanded sectional view of FIG. The expanded front view of the flexible conductor corresponding to the modification of this invention corresponding to FIG. The principal part expanded sectional view concerning the modification of this invention and corresponding to FIG.

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

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a vehicle instrument 1 according to the present invention. The vehicle meter 1 allows the driver to visually recognize the speed of the vehicle, the remaining amount of fuel, the water temperature of the radiator, the travel distance (for example, trip meter display integrated every 0.1 km, odometer display integrated every 1 km), and the like. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a case unit 10 including a dial plate 11, a facing plate 12, a glass front 13, a front case 14, and a lower case 15, a plurality of liquid crystal display panels 20, And a circuit board 30 for driving and controlling each liquid crystal display panel 20.

  The dial plate 11 is obtained by applying light-shielding printing to the surface of a resin plate material that transmits light, such as transparent polycarbonate resin and acrylic resin, and is fixed to a front case 14 disposed on the back side. . The dial 11 is formed with a plurality of openings 11a (five examples shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) as openings on the dial side, and the panel surface 21 of each liquid crystal display panel 20 is opened. It is made to make a driver | operator visually recognize through 11a.

  The facing plate (wind plate) 12 is formed in an annular shape covering the periphery of the dial plate 11 with, for example, ABS resin or the like. The facing plate 12 has a function of improving the anti-glare property by irregularly reflecting incident light from the glass front 13 by a texture formed on the inner surface thereof, and is fixed to a front case 14 disposed on the back side. .

  The glass front 13 (glass portion) is formed of a resin material that transmits light, such as smoke acrylic resin, and is fitted into the front side peripheral portion of the facing plate 12. The front case 14 and the rear case 15 are formed of, for example, ABS resin and accommodate the circuit board 30 at a predetermined position.

  Each liquid crystal display panel 20 is fixed to the front case 14 such that the panel surface 21 is disposed to face each opening 11 a of the dial 11. Each liquid crystal display panel 20 is connected to the circuit board 30 via an electrical wiring 22.

  On the circuit board 30, a controller 31 that controls driving of each liquid crystal display panel 20 and an LED 32 that functions as a backlight of each liquid crystal display panel 20 are mounted, and an earth circuit 33 that is electrically grounded is provided. ing.

  By the way, in the first embodiment, the flexible conductor 40 is sandwiched and fixed between the dial 11 and the front case 14 between the back surface of the dial 11 and the panel surface 21 of each liquid crystal display panel 20. . The flexible conductor 40 functions as a ground member that is grounded via the ground circuit 33 of the circuit board 30 in order to release the static electricity discharged from the glass front 13 toward each liquid crystal display panel 20 to the ground. The copper foil 41 as the conductive metal foil is covered with an insulating film 42 such as a polyimide film, for example. In addition, if the flexible conductor 40 is affixed on the back surface of the dial 11, the assembly man-hour can be reduced.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the flexible conductor 40 is formed with an opening 40a as a conductor-side opening having a size encompassing each opening 11a of the dial 11, and each opening 40a. A rectangular frame-shaped copper foil 41 is provided so that the inner edge matches the opening edge. That is, since each opening 40a of the flexible conductor 40 is formed larger than each opening 11a of the corresponding dial plate 11, each opening 40a of the flexible conductor 40 passes through each opening 11a of the dial plate 11. In addition, the inner edge of the copper foil 41 is not visible.

  Each copper foil 41 has a dial 11 so that the panel surface 21 side of each liquid crystal display panel 20 is covered with an insulating film 42 in order to prevent contact with the terminal portion of each liquid crystal display panel 20. A part of the insulating film 42 on the back side of the copper foil is peeled off to form a copper foil exposed portion 41a (metal foil exposed portion) exposed to the outside.

  Each copper foil 41 is connected to, for example, the copper foil 41 positioned at the lowermost position in FIG. 4 via an intermediate connecting portion 41b formed of the same copper foil. From the copper foil 41 positioned at the lowermost position, A board connecting portion 41c for connecting to the earth circuit 33 of the circuit board 30 is integrally formed to project. The board connecting portion 41c is covered with a strip-like board connecting portion insulating film 42a that is integrally projected from the insulating film 42 on each copper foil 41 side.

  The board connecting portion 41c and the board connecting portion insulating film 42a are bent at the edge of the circuit board 30, and are connected to the ground circuit 33 by screws 51 at the front end portion thereof (see FIG. 3). With such a configuration, static electricity transmitted from the driver to the glass front 13 and further discharged from the glass front 13 toward the panel surface 21 of each liquid crystal display panel 20 is transferred from the copper foil exposed portion 41a to the intermediate connecting portion 41b and the substrate connecting portion. It flows through the part 41c and escapes through the ground circuit 33 of the circuit board 30 (see FIG. 5).

  As apparent from the above description, in the vehicle instrument 1 of the present invention, the flexible conductor 40 in which the copper foil 41 is covered with the insulating film 42 is provided as the ground member. By using such a flexible conductor 40, it becomes easy to create the copper foil 41 in a desired shape (for example, shape creation by pressing), and the copper foil 41 is covered with the insulating film 42. Bending is also facilitated (particularly, bending at the board connecting portion 41c and the board connecting portion insulating film 42a), and the degree of freedom during assembly can be improved satisfactorily.

  In the first embodiment, the flexible conductor 40 is hidden by the dial 11 and is not visible through the opening 11 a of the dial 11. Thereby, the visibility of the design of the dial 11 and the visibility of the liquid crystal display panel 20 can be ensured satisfactorily.

  Moreover, in the said Example 1, the copper foil exposed part 41a which a part of insulating film 42 of the back surface side of the dial 11 peeled and the copper foil 41 was exposed is formed. Thereby, since the static electricity discharged from the glass front 13 easily flows toward the copper foil exposed portion 41a of the flexible conductor 40, the static electricity can be almost certainly prevented from being transmitted to each liquid crystal display panel 20.

  In the first embodiment, corresponding to each liquid crystal display panel 20, the opening 40a is formed in the flexible conductor 40, and the copper foil 41 is formed in a frame shape surrounding each opening 40a. The copper foil 41 is connected to the substrate connecting portion 41c via the intermediate connecting portion 41b, and the ground conduction to the earth circuit 33 of the circuit board 30 is set at one place. Thereby, the assembly workability | operativity of the flexible conductor 40 with respect to the circuit board 30 can be improved favorably.

(Modification)
In the first embodiment, the flexible conductor 40 is configured to have the rectangular frame-shaped copper foil 41 surrounding each opening 40a. Instead, for example, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. You may use flexible conductor 40 'with which most parts except the opening part 40a are occupied with the copper foil 41. FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the same reference numerals are given to the portions corresponding to FIG. 4 and FIG.

  For example, the layout of the copper foil 41 becomes more complicated as the number of liquid crystal display panels 20 to be used increases and the sizes thereof differ. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the size of the copper foil 41 is set large, and the opening 40a is formed so as to penetrate through the liquid crystal display panel 20 to be used. It can be used efficiently.

  In Example 1 and its modifications, the copper foil 41 is used as an example of the conductive metal foil. However, a metal other than copper may be used as long as it has conductivity.

  In addition, the present invention can be widely applied to a vehicle instrument in which a liquid crystal display panel is incorporated in various modes, such as a vehicle instrument in which a liquid crystal display panel is incorporated in an analog meter that drives a pointer by a pointer drive motor. .

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Instrument for vehicles 10 Case unit 11 Dial 13 Glass front (glass part)
11a Opening (Dial plate side opening)
14 Front case 20 Liquid crystal display panel 21 Panel surface 30 Circuit board 33 Ground circuit 40, 40 'Flexible conductor (grounding member)
40a opening (conductor side opening)
41 Copper foil (conductive metal foil)
41a Copper foil exposed part (metal foil exposed part)
41b Intermediate connecting portion 41c Substrate connecting portion 42 Insulating film 42a Insulating film for substrate connecting portion

Claims (4)

In a vehicular instrument comprising a liquid crystal display panel disposed so as to be visible to the driver through a dial side opening formed on a glass part and a dial, and a circuit board for driving and controlling the liquid crystal display panel,
On the panel surface side of the liquid crystal display panel, a conductive metal foil as a grounding member grounded via the circuit board is provided to release static electricity discharged from the glass portion toward the liquid crystal display panel. A vehicle instrument, characterized in that a flexible conductor covered with an insulating film is provided.   In the flexible conductor, a conductor-side opening having a size including the dial-side opening is formed, and an opening edge of the conductor-side opening is not visible through the dial-side opening. The vehicle instrument according to claim 1, wherein the flexible conductor is disposed between a back surface of the dial and a panel surface of the liquid crystal display panel.   The vehicular instrument according to claim 2, wherein the conductive metal foil is a metal foil exposed portion that is exposed to the outside by peeling a part of the insulating film on the back side of the dial.   A plurality of the liquid crystal display panels are provided, and the flexible conductor is formed with the conductor side openings corresponding to the respective liquid crystal display panels, and the conductive metal foil is formed of the conductor side openings. The vehicle meter according to claim 2 or 3, wherein each of the conductive metal foils is connected to one, and ground conduction to the circuit board is set at one place.

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