JP2014235092A - Nameplate for gage and production method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a nameplate for gage capable of preventing the nameplate from becoming in a whitish state due to reflectance and improving visibility, and a production method thereof.SOLUTION: A nameplate for gage 11 comprises: an opaque layer 15 disposed on a surface of a substrate 13, excepting for a light transmissivity display part formed on part of the substrate 13; and a transparent protective layer 21 including transparent beads 23 and silicas 25 as a matting agent whose particle diameter is smaller than that of the bead 23, and the silicas 25 are disposed on the opaque layer 15 so as to cover the surface side of the beads 23 disposed on the opaque layer 15.

Description

  The present invention relates to an instrument dial and a method for manufacturing an instrument dial.

  A vehicle-mounted meter equipped in a vehicle such as an automobile includes a light source disposed on the back side of the instrument dial. The instrument dial has a design portion made of scales, letters, and the like. And the part except the scale of a design part and a character is comprised by the opaque part (opaque layer) which the light of the said light source does not permeate | transmit. On the other hand, the scales and character portions that serve as a translucent display portion are constituted by a transmission portion through which light from the light source passes. Thereby, for example, at night, the letters and scales of the vehicle-mounted meter are displayed brightly by illuminating the instrument dial from the back side with the light source.

As shown in FIG. 5 (a), in an instrument dial plate 501 used in a vehicle-mounted meter, black ink and clear ink are formed on a transparent or translucent substrate 503 in order to obtain a deep black color in an opaque portion. Some are printed in the order of ink (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In such an instrument dial plate 501, the black ink layer 505 made of black ink absorbs light, and the clear ink layer 507 made of clear ink printed on the upper surface suppresses reflection. As a result, the design portion is designed so that a blackish black appearance can be obtained.

JP 2003-177686 A

  However, the conventional instrument dial 501 configured as described above sometimes has a blackish appearance with “whiteness” in appearance from the passenger side. This is considered to be caused by the large diameter of the beads 509 included in the clear ink constituting the clear ink layer 507 as shown in FIG. That is, if the diameter of the bead 509 is large, the incident light becomes reflected light 511 that is directly reflected by the bead 509, or the reflected light 513 from the black ink layer 505 passes between the beads 509. The reflectivity of the surface of the dial 501 was increased, and the appearance of a whitish black color was obtained.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a dial for an instrument and a method for manufacturing an instrument dial that can improve visibility by preventing whitening due to reflected light. It is in.

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following configuration.
(1) A translucent dial, and a non-transparent layer provided on the surface of the translucent dial except for the translucent display formed on a part of the translucent dial, It contains transparent beads and matting silica having a particle size smaller than that of the beads, and the silica covers the surface side of the beads disposed on the opaque layer. An instrument dial comprising: a transparent protective layer provided on the light layer.

According to the instrument dial having the structure of (1) above, the transparent protective layer provided on the surface of the translucent dial is made of a matting agent silica having a particle diameter smaller than that of the transparent beads. By covering the surface side of the beads disposed on the surface, a transparent protective layer having a fine concavo-convex structure is obtained. And the transparent protective layer which has this fine concavo-convex structure makes the surface silica diffusely reflect incident light. Therefore, the transparent protective layer suppresses reflection of the incident light on the translucent dial by the transparent protective layer, and absorbs the incident light in the light-impermeable layer in a state where the amount of light is reduced. In addition, the transparent protective layer causes the surface silica to diffusely reflect the reflected light from the opaque layer and emit the light in a reduced amount. Thereby, the dial for instruments can reduce the amount of light reflected from the transparent protective layer and the opaque layer, and can prevent the appearance of the opaque layer from becoming whitish.
Accordingly, the instrument dial configured as described above prevents the non-transparent layer provided on the surface of the translucent dial excluding the display unit from being whitish by the reflected light, thereby improving the visibility of the display unit. To do.

(2) An instrument dial having the configuration of (1) above, wherein the silica has an average particle size range equivalent to a wavelength range of visible light.

  According to the instrument dial having the configuration of (2) above, the average particle diameter of the silica is set to a range equivalent to the wavelength range of visible light, so that the transparent protective layer has a silica surface on the principle of Mie scattering. Reduces backscattering (reflection) of incident light and increases forward scattering. Therefore, the transparent protective layer can suppress the reflection by the transparent protective layer with respect to the incident light on the translucent dial, and can absorb the incident light in the light-impermeable layer in a state where the amount of light is reliably reduced. Further, the transparent protective layer can be emitted in a state in which the silica on the surface reduces the backscattering of the reflected light from the opaque layer to increase the forward scattering, and the amount of light is reliably reduced.

(3) an opaque layer forming step of providing an opaque layer on the surface of the transparent plate excluding the transparent display portion formed on a part of the transparent plate; A bead disposing step of disposing transparent beads on the light-transmitting layer; and a silica disposing step of covering the surface side of the bead with a matting silica having a particle size smaller than that of the bead. A method for manufacturing a dial for an instrument.

  According to the method for manufacturing an instrument dial having the configuration of the above (3), the non-transparent layer provided on the surface of the translucent dial excluding the display portion is prevented from being whitish by reflected light, An instrument dial plate with improved visibility of the display unit can be easily manufactured.

  According to the instrument dial and the method for producing an instrument dial according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an instrument dial with good visibility without suppressing reflected light and becoming whitish.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, the details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through a mode for carrying out the invention described below (hereinafter referred to as “embodiment”) with reference to the accompanying drawings. .

It is a front view of the dial for instruments which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the principal part in the dial plate for instruments shown in FIG. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the principal part in the dial plate for instruments which concerns on the comparative example from which the surface of the transparent protective layer became a flat surface structure. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the principal part in the dial for instruments which concerns on the comparative example used as the surface structure which the silica of the transparent protective layer sank. (A) is a cross-sectional enlarged view of a main part of a conventional instrument dial, and (b) is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining the whitishness of the instrument dial of (a).

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, an instrument dial plate 11 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a dial plate used for a transmitted light vehicle-mounted meter. A vehicle-mounted meter has a movement disposed inside a meter case (not shown), and a pointer is attached to the movement via an output shaft, and an instrument dial 11 is disposed between the movement and the pointer. The vehicle-mounted meter is configured by providing a transparent protective cover (not shown) so as to cover the 11 instrument dials and the pointer.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the instrument dial plate 11 of the present embodiment has a translucent scale / character / symbol formed on a part of the substrate 13 on the surface of the substrate 13 which is a translucent dial plate. A non-translucent layer 15 is provided except for the display unit 17 (see FIG. 1). The on-vehicle meter displays the measured amount when the pointer indicates the display unit 17 of the instrument dial plate 11.

  An illumination light source (not shown) is provided at the bottom of the meter case. Illumination light from the illumination light source is guided by a light guide plate (not shown) or the like to irradiate the back surface of the substrate 13, and this illumination light is emitted. The light is transmitted through the display unit 17 of the substrate 13 to the surface side of the substrate 13. Then, unnecessary light is masked by the light-impermeable light shielding portion 19 formed on the surface of the substrate 13 by the light-impermeable layer 15, so that a pattern corresponding to the shape of the display portion 17 is formed on the instrument dial 11. Projected. Thus, the light-impermeable layer 15 of the instrument dial plate 11 forms the light-shielding portion 19 by printing black ink (black ink in the present embodiment) except for the display portion 17.

Further, a transparent protective layer 21 is provided on the opaque layer 15 of the substrate 13. The transparent protective layer 21 contains transparent beads 23 and a matting agent silica 25 having a particle size smaller than that of the beads 23. The transparent protective layer 21 is provided on the light-impermeable layer 15 so that the silica 25 covers the surface side of the beads 23 disposed on the light-impermeable layer 15.
The transparent protective layer 21 is formed, for example, by sequentially applying a clear UV ink containing beads 23 and a clear UV ink containing silica 25 to the upper surface of the light-impermeable layer 15 and irradiating it with ultraviolet rays to be cured. Is done. The clear UV ink contains a UV curable resin as the binder 27, and the UV curable resin has a property of being cured when the liquid ink is irradiated with ultraviolet rays.

  As the beads 23 according to the present embodiment, acrylic beads, urethane beads, silicone beads or the like having an average particle diameter of 8 to 30 μm can be used. More preferably, beads having an average particle diameter of 8 μm are used. Further, as the silica 25 according to the present embodiment having a particle size extremely smaller than that of the beads 23, one having an average particle size range equivalent to the visible light wavelength range is preferably used, and an average particle size of 380 nm to 800 nm is used. The silica which has is used. More preferably, silica having an average particle diameter of about 400 nm is used.

Next, a method for manufacturing the above-described instrument dial 11 will be described.
In order to manufacture the dial plate 11 for an instrument, first, black ink is printed on the surface of the substrate 13 made of a transparent or translucent translucent member (for example, polycarbonate resin) except for the display unit 17. An opaque layer 15 is provided (an opaque layer forming step). At this time, for example, a white display layer is provided on the display unit 17 for scales, characters, symbols, and the like.
Next, a clear UV ink containing beads 23 is applied on the light-impermeable layer 15 (bead arrangement step).
Further, a clear UV ink containing a matting agent silica 25 having a particle diameter smaller than that of the beads 23 is applied, and the surface side of the beads 23 is covered with silica 25 (silica disposing step).
Then, the clear UV ink applied on the opaque layer 15 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays and cured.

  Thereby, the non-transparent layer 15 provided on the surface of the substrate 13 except for the display portion 17 formed on the substrate 13, and the matting agent silica having a particle diameter smaller than that of the beads 23 and the beads 23. And a transparent protective layer 21 provided on the light-impermeable layer 15 so that the silica 25 covers the surface side of the beads 23 provided on the light-impermeable layer 15. An instrument dial plate 11 is formed.

Next, the operation of the instrument dial plate 11 having the above configuration will be described.
According to the instrument dial plate 11 according to the present embodiment, the transparent protective layer 21 provided on the surface of the substrate 13 has a matting agent silica 25 having a particle diameter smaller than that of the transparent beads 23 and the opaque layer 15. By covering the surface side of the beads 23 disposed on the surface, a transparent protective layer having a fine concavo-convex structure is obtained as shown in FIG. And the transparent protective layer 21 which has this fine concavo-convex structure makes the surface silica 25 diffusely reflect incident light. Therefore, the transparent protective layer 21 suppresses the reflected light 35 from the transparent protective layer 21 with respect to the incident light 29 on the substrate 13, and causes the light-impermeable layer 15 to absorb the incident light 29 in a state where the light amount is reduced. In addition, the transparent protective layer 21 causes the surface silica 25 to diffusely reflect the reflected light 37 from the light-impermeable layer 15 and emit the light in a reduced amount. As a result, the instrument dial plate 11 can reduce the amount of light reflected from the transparent protective layer 21 and the opaque layer 15 and prevent the light-shielding portion 19 formed by the opaque layer 15 from being whitish. be able to.

  Further, according to the transparent protective layer 21 of the present embodiment, the transparent protective layer 21 has a surface silica because the average particle diameter of the silica 25 is 380 nm to 800 nm, which is the same range as the wavelength range of visible light. 25 reduces the backscattering (reflected light 35) of the incident light by the principle of Mie scattering and increases the forward scattering. Therefore, the transparent protective layer 21 suppresses the reflected light 35 from the transparent protective layer 21 against the incident light on the substrate 13, and allows the light-impermeable layer 15 to absorb the incident light 29 in a state where the light amount is reliably reduced. it can. The transparent protective layer 21 can also be emitted in a state in which the silica 25 on the surface reduces the backscattering of the reflected light 37 from the opaque layer 15 to increase the forward scattering and the amount of light is reliably reduced.

  Here, “Me scattering” is a kind of elastic scattering (particle or wave scattering without energy loss due to absorption), and is light scattering caused by particles whose size is not negligible compared to the wavelength. When the scattering of a monochromatic plane wave by a sphere having an arbitrary complex refractive index and diameter in a homogeneous medium is calculated using Maxwell's equations, the parameter q = 2πa when the radius of the scattering particle is a and the wavelength of the light is λ. As / λ increases, forward scattering increases rapidly compared to backscattering.

  Therefore, the instrument dial plate 11 according to the present embodiment prevents the opaque layer 15 provided on the surface of the substrate 13 except for the display unit 17 from being whitish by reflected light, so that the display unit 17 is visually recognized. Improves.

Next, the operation of the method for manufacturing the instrument dial plate 11 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the instrument dial plates 11A and 11B according to the comparative example shown in FIGS.
In the manufacturing method of the dial plate 11 described above, for example, a clear UV ink containing silica 25 having an average particle diameter of 400 nm is placed on a printing plate by a scraper, and the clear UV ink on the printing plate is passed through a mesh opening of the printing plate. The clear UV ink containing silica 25 is printed so as to cover the clear UV ink containing beads 23 having an average particle diameter of 8 μm printed in advance on the surface of the substrate 13 by dropping onto the surface of the substrate 13 with a squeegee. Is done. And the transparent protective layer 21 of a fine uneven structure is formed by hardening the clear UV ink printed on the surface of the board | substrate 13 with UV irradiation machine.

At this time, if the viscosity of the clear UV ink is too high, the viscosity in the clear coat ink increases, so that the silica 25 sticks to the beads 23 more than necessary as in the instrument dial plate 11A shown in FIG. It is assumed that the surface reflection is increased due to a flat surface structure rather than unevenness.
In addition, the pressure and speed of the scraper and squeegee are not adjusted, the opening diameter of the mesh opening is narrow and the amount of clear UV ink (containing silica 25) that falls on the substrate 13 is small, or the intensity of UV irradiation is low. If it is weak or the viscosity of the clear UV ink is too low, the silica 25 sinks without covering the surface side of the beads 23 as in the instrument dial plate 11B shown in FIG. The structure jumped to the surface.

  Therefore, in order to stably form the transparent protective layer 21 having a fine concavo-convex structure like the instrument dial plate 11 according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 2, when the clear UV ink is put on the printing plate, Scraper pressure (force applied after pressing on the printing plate), scraper speed when clear UV ink is applied to the printing plate, squeegee pressure for dropping clear UV ink on the substrate 13, and squeegee speed for dropping clear UV ink on the substrate 13 In addition, it is necessary to appropriately adjust various conditions such as the opening diameter of the mesh opening of the printing plate, the intensity of UV irradiation, and the viscosity of the clear UV ink.

Therefore, in the instrument dial plate 11 according to this embodiment manufactured in this way, the non-transparent layer 15 provided on the surface of the substrate 13 except the display unit 17 is reflected by reflected light based on the principle of Mie scattering. It is possible to easily manufacture an instrument dial plate that is prevented from becoming whitish and the visibility of the display unit 17 is improved. As a result, a good instrument dial plate 11 with improved visibility can be obtained.
In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A deformation | transformation, improvement, etc. are possible suitably. In addition, the material, shape, dimensions, number, arrangement location, and the like of each component in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary and are not limited as long as the present invention can be achieved.

11 ... Dial for instrument 13 ... Substrate (translucent dial)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 ... Impervious layer 17 ... Display part 21 ... Transparent protective layer 23 ... Bead 25 ... Silica 27 ... Binder

Claims (3)

  A translucent dial, a non-translucent layer provided on the surface of the translucent dial except for a translucent display formed on a part of the translucent dial, and transparent beads And a matting agent silica having a particle size smaller than that of the beads, and the silica covers the surface side of the beads disposed on the opaque layer. An instrument dial comprising a transparent protective layer provided on the top.   The instrument dial according to claim 1, wherein the silica has an average particle diameter range equivalent to a wavelength range of visible light. A non-translucent layer forming step of providing a non-translucent layer on the surface of the translucent dial plate excluding the translucent display portion formed on a part of the translucent dial plate;
A bead disposing step of disposing transparent beads on the light-impermeable layer;
A silica disposing step of covering the surface side of the bead with a matting silica having a particle size smaller than that of the bead;
The manufacturing method of the dial for instruments characterized by including these.

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