JP2013091451A - Lighting equipment for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide lighting equipment for a vehicle which can illuminate planarly without increasing the number of components and cost.SOLUTION: Because an interior material 24 for the vehicle is formed by a transparent or semi-translucent resin which has translucency and a light source 25 is arranged to face at least one end face 241 of the resin, light from the light source 25 is transmitted for planar light emission with the resin, which is the interior material 24 for the vehicle, as an optical guiding body. Accordingly, it is not necessary to arrange the optical guiding body separately unlike conventional lighting equipment, an increase in the number of components and the cost can be suppressed, and the interior material 24 for the vehicle can be made to emit light planarly. In addition, the assembling man-hour does not increase because the existing components are used.

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular illumination device that is provided in an interior material of a vehicle and is lit in a vehicle during night illumination.

  Conventionally, lighting devices are attached to interior trim parts such as door trims, rear side trims, luggage trims, instrument panels, etc. Due to the marked difference between the pattern pattern on the trim surface during daytime and the pattern on the trim surface during night illumination. 2. Description of the Related Art A vehicular lighting device that gives a sense of surprise to an occupant with a production effect is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  As shown in FIG. 4, the vehicular illumination device 100 described in Patent Document 1 is provided on a door trim 101 having a vertically divided structure. The door trim 101 includes a door trim upper 101A having an upper trim main body 102 and a door trim lower 101B having a lower trim main body 103. The upper trim main body 102 includes a translucent core material 107 and a translucent skin material 108 that is attached to the surface of the core material 107 and has translucency.

Illumination units 104 are provided on the back sides of the door trim upper 101A and the door trim lower 101B, respectively. The illumination unit 104 includes a light guide plate 105 made of a transparent acrylic resin plate and a plurality of LEDs 106 as light sources for supplying illumination light to the light guide plate 105.
As a result, the light guide plate 105 emits light when the lighting unit 104 is turned on during night illumination, the light is transmitted through the core material 107 and the skin material 108, and it is clear that the exterior surface of the door trim 101 is daytime (when not illuminated). A different pattern can be displayed.

JP 2009-101840 A (FIG. 2)

  However, in the vehicle lighting device described in Patent Document 1 described above, in order to emit light in a planar shape, it is necessary to separately use a light guide that spreads light from the LED that is the light source, which increases the number of components and increases the cost. There is a problem of increasing the number of assembly steps.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is to provide a vehicular illumination device capable of emitting a vehicular interior material in a planar shape while suppressing an increase in the number of parts and an increase in cost. .

  In order to solve the above problems, a vehicle lighting device according to the present invention is a vehicle lighting device that emits light from a vehicle interior material, and the vehicle interior material that emits light is formed of a translucent resin. A light source is disposed opposite to at least one end surface of the resin.

According to this configuration, the vehicle interior material is formed of a transparent or translucent resin having translucency, and the light source is disposed so as to face at least one end surface of the resin. Light is transmitted using a resin, which is a material, as a light guide, and light is emitted in a planar shape.
Thereby, since it is not necessary to provide a light guide separately as in the prior art, it is possible to suppress the increase in the number of parts and the cost and to cause the vehicle interior material to emit light in a planar shape. In addition, since existing parts are used, the number of assembly steps does not increase.

  In the above configuration, the surface of the resin that does not emit light is subjected to a light-shielding surface treatment.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to regulate the shape or the like of the light emitting portion by providing an arbitrary pattern or the like on the surface of the resin to shield it from light.

  In the above configuration, the surface treatment is painting, printing, or plating.

According to this configuration, coating, printing, plating, or the like can be used as the surface treatment applied to the resin surface for light shielding.
By adjusting the thickness of painting, printing, and plating, the whole can be thinly and lightly emitted.

  The said structure WHEREIN: The site | part which is not made to light-emit is a pattern.

  According to this configuration, the surface of the resin can be subjected to a surface treatment to form a pattern, so that the pattern can be lifted and displayed by causing the light source to emit light.

  According to the present invention, the vehicle interior material is formed of a transparent or translucent resin having translucency, and the light source is disposed opposite to at least one end surface of the resin. Light is transmitted using a resin, which is a material, as a light guide, and light is emitted in a planar shape. Thereby, since it is not necessary to provide a light guide separately as in the prior art, it is possible to suppress the increase in the number of parts and the cost and to cause the vehicle interior material to emit light in a planar shape. In addition, since existing parts are used, there is an effect that the number of assembling steps does not increase.

It is a perspective view which shows the door trim which uses the illuminating device for vehicles concerning this invention. (A) is II-II sectional drawing in FIG. 1, (B) is an enlarged view of B part in (A). It is sectional drawing equivalent to FIG. 2 (B) which shows the example of another finisher. It is a perspective view which shows the conventional vehicle illuminating device.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the same number is assigned to the same element throughout the description of the embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle lighting device 10 according to the present invention can be applied to, for example, a door trim 20.
In the door trim 20, a resin skin material 22 is applied on the door base 21 in consideration of design in the vehicle interior. This skin material 22 does not have translucency.
The door base 21 is provided with an opening 23 in the center in the height direction, and flanges 211 and 212 extending vertically above and below the opening 23. The opening 23 is covered with a finisher (decorative component) 24 that is a vehicle interior material that emits light. The finisher 24 is formed of a transparent or translucent resin having translucency, and is attached in contact with the upper and lower flange portions 211 and 212.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, an LED 25 that is a light source is provided so as to face a lower end surface 241 that is one end surface of the finisher 24. A plurality of LEDs 25 are mounted on the substrate 26, and are arranged to face each other along the longitudinal direction of the lower end surface 241.
Here, the LED 25 and the substrate 26 are provided facing the lower end surface 241 of the finisher 24, but it is also possible to provide the LED 25 and the side end surface facing the finisher 24. Alternatively, it is possible to provide a combination of upper and lower end surfaces and side end surfaces.

The surface of the finisher 24 that does not emit light is subjected to a light-shielding surface treatment. As the surface treatment for light shielding, for example, as shown in FIG. 2B, the surface of the finisher 24 is subjected to light shielding coating 27, printing, plating, or the like. Here, the light LB leaks from the lower part 242 where the surface treatment (painting) of light shielding is not performed in the finisher 24 and illuminates the lower part.
Further, by forming a pattern, a character, or the like on the finisher 24 by a light-shielding surface treatment, the character or the pattern can be raised.

As will be apparent from the above description, according to the vehicle lighting device 10 of the present invention, the finisher 24 is formed of a transparent or translucent resin having translucency and is opposed to the lower end surface 241 of the resin. Since the LED 25 is disposed, the light LB from the LED 25 is transmitted through the resin as the finisher 24 as a light guide, and is emitted in a planar shape.
Thereby, since it is not necessary to provide a light guide separately as in the prior art, the finisher 24 can emit light in a planar shape while suppressing an increase in the number of parts and an increase in cost. In addition, since existing parts are used, the number of assembly steps does not increase.

  Further, the shape or the like of the light emitting portion can be regulated by providing an arbitrary pattern or the like on the surface of the finisher 24 to shield the light.

Further, as the surface treatment applied to the surface of the finisher 24 for light shielding, painting, printing, plating, or the like can be used.
By adjusting the thickness of painting, printing, and plating, the whole can be thinly and lightly emitted.

  Furthermore, since the surface of the finisher 24 can be subjected to surface treatment to form a pattern, the pattern can be lifted and displayed by causing the LED 25 to emit light.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, it cannot be overemphasized that the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiments. Further, it is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the vehicle lighting device 10 according to the present invention is provided in the finisher 24 of the door trim 20 is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The present invention can also be applied to other parts, for example, a finisher for a power window switch, a door grip cap, and the like.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the surface of the finisher 24 is coated or plated is exemplified as the surface treatment for light shielding. However, as shown in FIG. A vehicle lighting device 10B in which the finisher 24B is integrally molded using the resin 28 is also possible.

10, 10B Vehicle lighting device 24 Finisher (vehicle interior material)
241 Lower end surface (one end surface)
25 LED (light source)
27 Painting (surface treatment)

Claims (4)

A vehicle lighting device that emits light from a vehicle interior material,
Forming the vehicle interior material to emit light with a translucent resin;
A vehicle lighting device, wherein a light source is disposed opposite to at least one end surface of the resin.   The vehicular lighting device according to claim 1, wherein a surface treatment for shading is performed on a portion of the resin surface that does not emit light.   The vehicle lighting device according to claim 2, wherein the surface treatment is painting, printing, or plating.   The vehicle illumination device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the portion that does not emit light is a pattern.

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