JP2014121240A - Light emitting display part - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the visibility of each of light emitting display parts in a case where the light emitting display parts are arranged so as to be displaced from each other along the inclined face of an apparatus in order to broaden the visible range of the light emitting display parts, which are used having a red or green LED as a light source in order to display the operating state of the apparatus, such as a charger for charging a battery for, for example, electronic power tool.SOLUTION: The light transmissivity of a light guide plate part 5a is decreased by providing a slit 5d between the adjacent two light emitting parts 5R and 5G of a light guide lens 5. Accordingly, the influence of a red light emitting part 5R is decreased to improve the visibility of a green light emitting part 5G.

Description

  The present invention relates to an LED display unit in, for example, a battery charger for a power tool, and relates to a light-emitting display unit that displays operation states of various devices using a light emitter.

  The following patent document discloses a technique related to an LED display unit in a battery charger for a power tool. According to this prior art, the light emitting portion (tip portion) of the light guide lens that condenses the light of the light source LED (light emitting diode) and performs secondary light emission is disposed so as to protrude from the outer surface of the housing. The light emission state is made visible from an oblique direction.

JP 2008-236879 A

However, it is necessary to further improve these conventional LED display portions. For example, when various states of the device are displayed by lighting a red LED and a green LED adjacent to each other and turning on, blinking, or extinguishing the green LED, the red LED having a longer wavelength emits a green LED having a shorter wavelength. There is a problem that the visibility of the green light-emitting portion is reduced due to reflection in the light guide lens.
The present invention is a light-emitting display unit that displays an operation state or the like of a device, and an object of the present invention is to improve the visibility of each light-emitting unit when using a single light guide lens that guides a plurality of light sources adjacent to each other. And

The above-described problems are solved by the following inventions.
1st invention is a light emission display part which displays the operation state of an apparatus, Comprising: A several light source and the single light guide lens which guides this several light source adjacently are provided, This light guide It is the light emission display part which provided the slit between the two light emission parts by the adjacent light source of a lens.
According to the first aspect, by providing the slit, the transparency of the light guide lens between the adjacent light sources is reduced, so that the visibility of the light emitting part that emits the light of each light source is increased.
As the light source, a light bulb can be used in addition to a light emitting diode (LED), and the above-described effects can be obtained when light sources of various colors are used.
In short, by providing a slit for reducing light transmission between two adjacent light emitting parts in the light guide lens, it is possible to reduce the influence (light transmission) of each other's light emission and increase the visibility of each. it can. In particular, when a light source having a different wavelength is provided adjacent to each other, a significant effect can be obtained by providing the slit.
According to a second invention, in the first invention, the light guide lens is fixed to the opening provided in the case of the device and assembled to the device, and in this assembled state, the convex portion provided in the case is inserted into the slit. The light emitting display portion.
According to 2nd invention, the convex part of a case is inserted in a slit, The transparency between adjacent light sources becomes still smaller, and the visibility of each light emission part can be improved further.
According to a third invention, in the second invention, the light guide lens integrally includes a plurality of light guide legs that allow light to enter from a plurality of light sources, and a plurality of light guide legs, respectively. A slit is provided with a flat light guide plate portion that is fixed in a closed state, a wall portion is provided in a standing state between the plurality of light guide leg portions, and an upper portion of the wall portion is provided as a convex portion in the light guide plate portion. It is the light emission display part inserted in.
According to the third invention, a plurality of adjacent light sources are shielded from each other by the wall portion as the convex portion, and the transparency of the light guide plate portion is reduced by inserting the upper portion of the wall portion into the slit. Thus, the visibility of the light emitting units corresponding to the plurality of light sources can be further enhanced.
The light guide lens can be manufactured by molding from a transparent resin material. In this case, by adding a light diffusing agent to the resin material, light is uniformly emitted over the entire light emitting portion, and thereby visibility can be further enhanced.
According to a fourth invention, in the second or third invention, the convex portion is a light emitting display portion smaller than the light guide lens in terms of light transmittance.
According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to further reduce the transparency of each light emitting unit in the light guide lens and further improve the visibility of the light emitting display unit.
According to a fifth invention, in the first invention, the light emitting parts corresponding to the plurality of light sources of the light guide lens are arranged at different height positions in a state assembled to the case of the device, and the wavelength of the light emitting part on the lower side is set. This is a light emitting display unit in which a green LED is arranged as a short light source, and a red LED is arranged as a light source having a long wavelength in a light emitting unit on the higher side.
According to the fifth invention, when a red LED having a long wavelength and a green LED having a short wavelength are used as light sources, and the respective light emitting portions are arranged at different height positions, the red LED having a long wavelength and high transparency is provided. By disposing a green LED with a short wavelength and a lower transmittance on the high side, the light emission of the red LED on the high side is prevented from leaking to the light emitting part on the low side, and the green color on the low side is arranged. The visibility of the light emission part of LED can be improved.
In this specification, the height of the light emitting part means the position in the main irradiation direction of the light source, and the difference in height between the two adjacent light emitting parts means that the position is shifted with respect to the main irradiation direction of the light source. It does not necessarily mean the distance from the light source or the distance from the installation surface of the device.
6th invention is a charger for charging the battery used as a power supply of an electric tool, Comprising: It is a charger provided with the light emission display part which concerns on any one 1st-5th invention.
According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the visibility of the light emitting display unit that displays the operation state is increased, and the usability of the charger can be improved.
In the case of a charger for charging a battery for a power tool, it is often used outdoors, and light emitting parts such as LEDs are difficult to see due to sunlight. There was a need to improve. According to the seventh invention, the visibility of the light emitting display portion of the charger is enhanced, and the lighting state of the light emitting portion can be clearly seen even under sunlight, so that it can be used outdoors. In addition, the state of charge of the battery can be easily and accurately confirmed.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional perspective view of the light emission display part which concerns on embodiment of this invention. In this figure, a battery charger for a power tool is shown as an example of a device having a light emitting display. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the light emission display part which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of a light guide lens single item. The upper part is an overall perspective view, the middle part is a side view, and the lower part is a sectional view taken along line (III)-(III) in FIG.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, a charger 10 is illustrated as an example of a device including the light emitting display unit 1. The charger 10 has a function of charging a slide mounting type battery pack (not shown in the figure) used mainly as a power source for a hand-held power tool such as an electric screw tightener.
The illustrated charger 10 is a multi-port type charger that can simultaneously charge a plurality of (for example, four) battery packs. In FIG. 1, only the battery attachment portion 13 for the left end of the plurality of ports is shown. ing. Each battery attachment portion 13 includes a terminal cover 14 that can be opened and closed in the front-rear direction. When the terminal cover 14 is slid forward and opened, connection terminals for the battery pack are exposed. In FIG. 1, the connection terminals are not covered with the closed terminal cover 14. Engagement rails 15 are provided on the left and right side portions of the battery attachment portion 13. By sliding the battery pack from the rear side to the front side along the engagement rails 15, the battery pack can be mechanically and electrically attached to the battery attachment portion 13.
The charger 10 includes an upper case 11 and a lower case 12 that are divided into two parts in the vertical direction. The battery attachment portions 13 are arranged side by side on the upper surface of the upper case 11. An operation state such as a charging state of the battery pack attached to the battery attachment unit 13 is displayed by the light emitting display unit 1. One light emitting display unit 1 is arranged for each battery mounting unit 13. The two light emitting display portions 1, 1 are arranged on the front side of the upper case 11 between the two adjacent battery attachment portions 13, 13. As shown in the figure, the front surface of the upper case 11 is provided with an inclined surface 11a inclined at an angle of about 45 °, and the two light emitting display portions 1 and 1 are arranged side by side along the inclined surface 11a. Has been.
A control board 16 for controlling the operation of the charger 10 is attached in the lower case 12.

Each light-emitting display unit 1 includes two light sources 3 and 4 mounted on a substrate 2 and a light guide lens 5. In this example, green LEDs and red LEDs are used for the two light sources 3 and 4. When the green and red light sources 3 and 4 are individually turned on, blinked, and turned off, various information such as charging completion or abnormality of the attached battery pack is notified.
The substrate 2 is disposed parallel (horizontally) to the installation surface F (the lower surface of the lower case 12) below the inclined surface 11 a of the upper case 11. The two light sources 3 and 4 are disposed above the base portions 3a and 4a that stand upward from the substrate 2. The rear base part 4a is formed higher than the front base part 3a. For this reason, the front light source 3 and the rear light source 4 are arranged so as to be shifted in the height direction. A red light source 4 with a long wavelength and high transparency is arranged at a higher position on the rear side, and a green light source 3 with a shorter wavelength and lower transmission is arranged on the front side and at a lower position. . Since the front light source 3 and the rear light source 4 are arranged so as to be shifted in the height direction, they are arranged at positions close to the inclined surface 11a up to substantially the same distance in the vertical direction.
Green light and red light emitted by the two light sources 3 and 4 are emitted to the outside of the upper case 11 through the light guide lens 5. The light guide lens 5 is manufactured by molding a transparent resin material. FIG. 3 shows the light guide lens 5 alone. The light guide lens 5 includes a flat light guide plate portion 5a and two light guide legs 5b and 5c provided integrally on the lower surface of the light guide plate portion 5a. Both the light guide legs 5b and 5c each have a substantially cylindrical shape. As shown in the middle part of FIG. 3, the light guide legs 5b and 5c extend in a direction inclined with respect to the surface direction of the light guide plate 5a.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the light guide plate part 5 a is fitted and fixed in an opening part 11 b provided on the inclined surface 11 a of the upper case 11. From the light guide plate portion 5a fixed flush with the inclined surface 11a, the front light guide leg portion 5b and the rear light guide leg portion 5c are straight downward (toward the light sources 3 and 4). It extends to. As shown in the upper part of FIG. 3, the upper end surfaces of the light guide legs 5b and 5c and the front and rear parts of the light guide plate 5a are light emitting parts (green light emitting part 5G and red light emitting part 5R). Become.

A slit 5d is provided at the center of the light guide plate portion 5a and between the front green light emitting portion 5G and the rear red light emitting portion 5R. The slit 5d is provided in a state of penetrating the light guide plate portion 5a. As shown in the upper part of FIG. 3, the front side of the slit 5d is formed in a semicircular arc shape that goes around the rear half circumference of the green light emitting unit 5G.
A wall portion 11c provided integrally with the upper case 11 is inserted into the slit 5d. The wall portion 11c enters between the front light guide leg portion 5b and the rear light guide leg portion 5c. As shown in the lower part of FIG. 3, the front side of the wall 11c is formed in a semicircular cross-sectional shape in accordance with the front semicircular shape of the slit 5d. The upper portion of the wall portion 11c is inserted, and the slit 5d is almost closed. The upper part of this wall part 11c functions as a convex part inserted in the slit 5d. By this wall portion 11c, almost the entire front light guide leg portion 5b is shielded from the rear light guide leg portion 5c.
The auxiliary wall portion 11d is provided in a state of projecting downward from the upper portion (rear portion) of the opening portion 11b. The auxiliary wall portion 11d is also provided integrally with the upper case 11. The auxiliary wall portion 11d protrudes so as to shield the rear surface side of the rear light guide leg portion 5c. Further, as shown in the lower stage of FIG. 3, the auxiliary wall portion 11d is also formed in a semicircular arc shape along the rear surface of the light guide leg portion 5c.
As described above, both the wall portion 11c and the auxiliary wall portion 11d are formed integrally with the upper case 11. The upper case 11 is molded using a molding material that is less permeable (bad) than the light guide lens 5. In this way, the wall portion 11c is arranged so as to block between the front light guide leg portion 5b and the rear light guide leg portion 5c, so that the lower side of the red light emitted from the upper light source 4 can be obtained. Since the transparency with respect to the light guide leg 5b is reduced, the leakage of the red light emitting part 5R in the light emitting display part 1 can be reduced and the visibility of the green light emitting part 5G can be increased without impairing the visibility.

According to the light emitting display unit 1 of the present embodiment configured as described above, the green light source 3 is located below the front light guide leg 5b of the light guide lens 5, and the rear light guide leg 5c is provided. A red light source 4 is located below. The green light emitted from the green light source 3 is emitted to the green light emitting part 5G of the light guide plate part 5a through the front light guide leg part 5b. The red light emitted from the red light source 4 is emitted to the red light emitting part 5R of the light guide plate part 5a via the rear light guide leg part 5c.
A slit 5d is provided in the center of the light guide plate portion 5a and between the red light emitting portion 5R and the green light emitting portion 5G. The slit 5d reduces the light transmittance of the light guide plate part 5a between the adjacent red light emitting part 5R and green light emitting part 5G. For this reason, the visibility of the red light emitting part 5R and the green light emitting part 5G is increased, and the usability of the charger 10 can be improved.
Moreover, according to the illustrated embodiment, the upper portion of the wall portion 11c as the convex portion is inserted into the slit 5d provided in the light guide plate portion 5a. The wall portion 11 c is formed integrally with the upper case 11. The wall 11c is formed using a molding material smaller than the light guide plate 5a and the light guide lens 5 in terms of light transmittance. For this reason, by inserting the wall portion 11c into the slit 5d, the light transmittance between the red light emitting portion 5R and the green light emitting portion 5G is further reduced, and the red light emitting portion 5R and the green light emitting portion 5G are visually recognized. The nature is further enhanced.
In particular, as illustrated, by attaching the light guide plate portion 5a of the light guide lens 5 along the inclined surface 11a of the upper case 11, the user can clearly see the red light emitting portion 5R and the green light emitting portion 5G from above or from the front. And become visible.
Further, according to the present embodiment, the red light source 4 having a long wavelength and high transparency is disposed on the upper side, and the green light source 3 having a shorter wavelength is disposed on the lower side, so that the green light emission is also achieved. The visibility of the part 5G is ensured.

Various modifications can be made to the embodiment described above. For example, in the light emitting display unit 1, the configuration in which the red light emitting unit 5R (red LED 4 on the rear side) is arranged on the high side and the green light emitting unit 5G (green LED 3 on the front side) is arranged on the low side is illustrated. Even in the case of the configuration, the same effect can be obtained. Even in the configuration in which the red light emitting unit 5R (red LED 4 on the front side) is arranged on the lower side and the green light emitting unit 5G (green LED 3 on the rear side) is arranged on the higher side, the light guide between the light emitting units 5R and 5G is provided by the slit 5d. Since the light transmittance of the light plate portion 5a is reduced, the visibility of the green light emitting portion 5G on the higher side can be ensured without impairing the visibility of the red light emitting portion 5R.
In particular, in this case, the light from the lower red light emitting portion 5R is easily reflected in the higher green light emitting portion 5G, but this reflection is shielded by the illustrated wall portion 11c and the higher green light emitting portion 5G. Visibility can be improved.
Moreover, although green LED and red LED were illustrated as the light sources 3 and 4, this invention applies similarly, when using LED of another color as a light source, or when using a light bulb instead of LED as a light source. be able to.
Moreover, although the light guide lens 5 in which the two light guide legs 5b and 5c are integrally formed on the light guide plate portion 5a has been illustrated, the light guide lens 5 may be formed by combining these separately and then integrated. Good.
Furthermore, although the configuration using two light sources 3 and 4 has been illustrated, the visibility is also improved by using similar slits and walls when three or more light sources are used for light emission display using a single light guide lens. Can be increased.
Moreover, although the structure which shape | molds the wall part 11c using the molding material whose light transmittance is lower than the light guide lens 5 as a raw material was illustrated, you may provide a wall part using the molding material which is the same or high about a light transmittance. Even in this case, by providing the slit 5d between the red light emitting unit 5R and the green light emitting unit 5G, the light transmittance of the red light emitting unit 5R having a long wavelength is reduced and the visibility of the green light emitting unit 5G is improved. Can be increased. For this reason, it is good also as a structure which abbreviate | omits the said wall part 11c and does not insert another site | part in the slit 5d. In addition to this, the rear auxiliary wall portion 11d can be omitted.
Further, the light guide plate portion 5a is arranged along the inclined surface 11a of the upper case 11, and a difference in height is provided between the red light emitting portion 5R and the green light emitting portion 5G so that the light guide plate portion 5a can be viewed from both the upper surface side and the front surface side. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the same slit is also provided when the light guide plate portion is disposed horizontally along the upper surface, or when the light guide plate portion is disposed vertically upright along the front surface or the side surface. Thereby, the visibility of both light emission parts 5R and 5G can be improved.
In addition, by adding a light diffusing agent to the molding resin as the light guide lens molding material, or by applying a so-called embossing process to the entire surface of the light guide lens, the red light emitting portion 5R and the green light emitting portion 5G emit light uniformly. These visibility can be further enhanced.
Further, in the illustrated light emitting display unit 1, the lower green light source 3 is a light source (LED) slightly brighter than the upper red light source 4, so that the red light emitting unit 5 </ b> R and the green light emitting unit have a balanced luminous intensity. 5G can emit light.
Further, regarding the shape of the slit 5d provided in the light guide plate portion 5a and the wall portion 11c with the upper portion inserted therein, the front side is formed in a semicircular cross-sectional shape to shield the range of the rear half circumference of the front light guide leg portion 5b. However, the semicircular arc-shaped portion may be omitted and a rectangular slit elongated in the left-right direction and a thin plate-shaped wall portion having a rectangular cross section may be used.
Furthermore, although the charger for charging the battery for electric tools was illustrated as an apparatus provided with the illustrated light emission display part 1, it can apply to the operation | movement display part of other various electric equipments. For example, the light emission display part illustrated in the operation | movement display part of electric tool itself, such as an electric screw fastening tool and a cutting tool machine, is applicable.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Light emission display part F ... Installation surface 2 ... Board | substrate 3 ... Light source (green LED)
4. Light source (red LED)
5 ... Light guide lens 5a ... Light guide plate part, 5b ... Light guide leg part (front side), 5c ... Light guide leg part (rear side)
5d ... slit 5R ... red light emitting part 5G ... green light emitting part 10 ... charger 11 ... upper case 11a ... inclined surface, 11b ... opening, 11c ... wall part, 11d ... auxiliary wall part 12 ... lower case 13 ... battery attachment part 14 ... terminal cover 15 ... engagement rail 16 ... control board

Claims (6)

A light-emitting display unit that displays an operation state of a device, comprising: a plurality of light sources; and a single light guide lens that guides the plurality of light sources adjacent to each other. A light emitting display unit in which a slit is provided between two light emitting units by a light source. The light emitting display unit according to claim 1, wherein the light guide lens is fixed to an opening provided in a case of the device and is assembled to the device, and the protrusion is provided in the case in the slit in the assembled state. A light-emitting display part with a part inserted. The light-emitting display unit according to claim 2, wherein the light guide lens integrally includes a plurality of light guide legs that respectively receive light from the plurality of light sources, and the plurality of light guide legs. A flat plate-shaped light guide plate portion fixed so as to close the opening, and a wall portion is provided in an upright state between the plurality of light guide leg portions, and the upper portion of the wall portion is used as the projection A light-emitting display unit inserted in a slit provided in the optical plate unit. 4. The light-emitting display unit according to claim 2, wherein the convex part is smaller than the light guide lens in terms of light transmittance. The light emitting display unit according to claim 1, wherein light emitting units corresponding to the plurality of light sources of the light guide lens are arranged at different height positions in a state assembled to a case of the device, and the light emitting unit on the lower side. A light emitting display unit in which a green LED is arranged as a light source having a short wavelength and a red LED is arranged as a light source having a long wavelength in a light emitting unit on the higher side. It is a charger for charging the battery used as a power supply of an electric tool, Comprising: The charger provided with the light emission display part in any one of Claims 1-5.

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