JP2016142694A - Pointer structure of vehicular measuring instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce luminance unevenness of a pointer.SOLUTION: When light emitted from a light source 60 is made incident to the inside of a pointer 20 from a light incident part 33 provided at a base end part 36 and light reflected on a reflection surface 34 is guided inside a pointer body part 30, part of the guided light is emitted from a pointer upper surface 40 to the outside and the remaining light is guided to the tip end of the pointer 20 while repeating reflection between the pointer upper surface 40 and a pointer lower part 42. At this time, an outside surface of a borderline region between the pointer body part 30 and the base end part 36 is embossed to suppress concentration of light to the borderline region.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5A

Description

  The present invention relates to a pointer structure having translucency for a vehicle instrument.

  In an instrument having a pointer mounted on a vehicle, in order to improve the recognizability of the indicated position of the pointer, light is incident on the inside of the transparent pointer and the upper surface of the pointer is emitted.

  As a pointer structure used in such a vehicle instrument, a configuration has been proposed in which a dark colored layer is provided on the proximal end side of the upper surface portion of the pointer to diffuse light to reduce uneven brightness when the pointer emits light. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2012-145386 A

  In a pointer of a vehicle instrument including the pointer described in Patent Document 1, a light incident portion having a wide area at the base end portion is provided to improve illumination of the pointer by allowing illumination light to enter the pointer without leakage. It is desirable to provide. In general, such a pointer is integrally formed by so-called injection molding, in which a heat-melted resin material is injected and injected into a mold and cooled and solidified, but a light incident portion having a large area is provided at a base end portion. In the case of the pointer, it is necessary to use different molds for the base end portion and the pointer main body portion at the time of molding, and to change the mold drawing direction. Therefore, a parting line, which is a parting line of the mold, is generated at the boundary between the base end and the pointer main body. When light is incident on and illuminates the pointer formed in this manner, the light that reaches the parting line out of the light guided inside the pointer is diffusely reflected and emitted to the outside of the pointer. There was a so-called spotlight in which the portion of the green line shined brightly. When such a spotlight is generated, luminance unevenness occurs in the pointer, resulting in a reduction in illumination quality. In the structure of the pointer described in Patent Document 1, the generation of such spotlight due to the parting line is not taken into consideration.

  The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce unevenness in the brightness of a pointer by alleviating the occurrence of spotlight in a parting line.

  In order to solve the above problems, a pointer structure of a vehicle instrument according to the present invention has a light incident part for making illumination light incident therein and a width wider than the light incident part for reflecting light incident from the light incident part. A proximal end portion composed of a narrow reflective surface, and a pointer upper surface portion and a pointer lower surface portion narrower than the pointer upper surface portion, which are formed continuously with the base end portion and are opposed to each other. A pointer main body, and guiding the illumination light to the distal end side while alternately reflecting the illumination light between the pointer upper surface portion and the pointer lower surface portion, and a part of the illumination light is A guide structure having translucency of a vehicle instrument that emits light from the upper surface of the pointer to the outside, wherein a wrinkle is formed at least in a boundary region between the upper surface of the pointer and the base end.

  According to the pointer structure of the vehicular instrument according to the present invention, the light guided to the boundary region between the base end portion and the pointer upper surface portion is formed on the outer surface of the boundary region by the above-described configuration. It is diffused by the texture and emitted to the outside. Therefore, since the occurrence of spotlight due to the concentration of light on the boundary region is alleviated, it is possible to improve the uniformity of the brightness of the upper surface portion of the pointer.

It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the vehicle speedometer which is an example of the vehicle meter which concerns on this invention. It is an external view which shows the external appearance of the pointer cap which comprises a pointer, and the pointer main-body part. (A) is a top view of a pointer main body. (B) is a side view of a pointer main body. (C) is BB sectional drawing of Fig.3 (a). It is a figure explaining the structure of the metal mold | die used when shape | molding a pointer main body part. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. 1 explaining the illumination operation | movement of a pointer | guide. It is a top view explaining the structure of the pointer in Example 1 of the present invention. It is a top view explaining the structure of the pointer in Example 2 of the present invention. It is a figure explaining the behavior of the illumination light in the vicinity of the parting line formed in the pointer | guide in Example 1 of this invention. It is a figure explaining the behavior of the illumination light in the vicinity of the parting line formed on the pointer when the present invention is not applied. It is a figure explaining the cross-sectional structure of the pointer | guide upper surface part in Example 1 of this invention. It is a figure explaining the cross-sectional structure of the pointer | guide upper surface part in Example 2 of this invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a pointer structure for a vehicle instrument according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external appearance of a vehicle speedometer 10 that is an example of a vehicle meter having a pointer to which a pointer structure according to the present invention is applied.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle speedometer 10 includes a circular dial plate 16 and a pointer 20 surrounded by a decoration ring 21.

  On the dial plate 16, a plurality of scales 12 representing the vehicle speed and a plurality of characters 14 representing the position of the scales are drawn, and the pointer 20 rotates on the board surface of the dial plate 16 with the rear end as a supporting end. Is configured to do.

  The pointer 20 is configured such that the pointer main body 30 is fitted inside the pointer cap 22, and a part of the pointer upper surface portion 40 of the pointer main body 30 is formed from a notch-shaped slit 24 provided in the pointer cap 22. Exposed outside. The illumination light incident on the inside of the pointer main body 30 is emitted from the pointer upper surface portion 40 to the outside through the slit 24 so that the pointer 20 emits light. Details will be described later.

[Description of guideline structure]
The structure of the pointer 20 will be described with reference to FIG. The pointer 20 includes a pointer main body 30 and a pointer cap 22.

  The pointer main body 30 is made of a light-transmitting resin material (for example, polycarbonate). The specific shape of the pointer main body 30 will be described later.

  The base of the pointer main body 30 constitutes a proximal end portion 36. The base end portion 36 further includes a flange portion 32, a light incident portion 33, and a reflection surface 34. The function of each part constituting the base end part 36 will be described later.

  The pointer cap 22 is formed of, for example, a black resin material that does not transmit light, and has a space in which the pointer main body 30 can be accommodated. A notch-shaped slit 24 is formed on the upper surface of the pointer cap 22. The pointer main body 30 is exposed to the outside from the area of the slit 24 so that the pointer main body 30 can be seen sharply to the passenger. Further, the slit 24 functions as an opening when the illumination light incident and guided to the inside of the pointer main body 30 is emitted to the outside.

[Description of the shape of the pointer body]
The shape of the pointer main body 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (c). FIG. 3A is a top view of the pointer main body 30. FIG. 3B is a side view of the pointer main body 30. 3C is a cross-sectional view taken along the cutting line BB of the pointer main body 30. FIG.

  The flange portion 32 serves as a fixing portion when the pointer main body portion 30 is accommodated in the pointer cap 22 (see FIG. 2). A plurality of (four locations in the example of FIG. 3A) mounting holes 32 a are opened in the flange portion 32. Projecting portions (not shown) respectively provided at positions corresponding to the roots of the pointer caps 22 are inserted into the mounting holes 32a, and the tips of the projecting portions are fixed by being baked, for example. The light incident part 33 makes light emitted from a light source 60 (see FIG. 5A) not shown in FIG. 3 enter the base end part 36. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3B and FIG. 3C, the light incident portion 33 is arranged inside the base end portion 36 so that the light emitted from the light source 60 enters the base end portion 36 without leakage. It has a larger area than the reflecting surface 34 formed on the surface. In this way, the light incident from the light incident portion 33 is reflected by the reflecting surface 34 and travels toward the distal end side of the pointer main body 30.

  The light reflected toward the pointer main body 30 is between the pointer upper surface portion 40 of the pointer main body portion 30 and the pointer lower surface portion 42 formed at a position facing the pointer upper surface portion 40 shown in FIG. The light is guided toward the tip of the pointer main body 30 while repeating the reflection. Details will be described later.

  A parting line 50 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B is formed at the boundary position between the pointer main body 30 and the base end portion 36. The parting line 50 is generated in the process of forming the pointer main body 30 and the base end 36, which will be described in detail later.

  FIG.3 (c) is sectional drawing which cut | disconnected the intermediate part of the pointer main-body part 30 by the cutting line BB shown to Fig.3 (a). As shown in FIG. 3C, the pointer lower surface portion 42 of the pointer main body portion 30 is formed to be narrower than the pointer upper surface portion 40. This is for reducing the weight of the pointer main body 30 as much as possible. By reducing the weight of the pointer main body 30, when the pointer 20 is rotated, it is possible to prevent the stepper of the step motor, for example, a blur of the pointer 20 or an actuator that rotates the pointer 20, The reliability of the vehicle speedometer 10 can be further improved.

[Description of molding method for pointer body]
A method for forming the pointer main body 30 in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The pointer main body 30 is molded using four molds 70, 72, 74, and 76 shown in FIG. At this time, since the pointer main body 30 and the base end 36 have the shapes described with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3C, the division positions are set so that the mold can be removed after molding. The

  In the present embodiment, the molds 70 and 72 are used to form the distal end side of the pointer main body 30, and the dividing line M <b> 1-M <b> 2 between the mold 70 and the mold 72 is the pointer upper surface 40 of the pointer main body 30. Is set along.

  The molds 74 and 76 are used to form the base end portion 36, and the dividing lines M <b> 5 to M <b> 6 between the mold 74 and the mold 76 are set at positions on the upper surface of the flange portion 32 of the base end portion 36. The

  Since the dividing line M3-M5 between the mold 70 and the mold 74 is set at the boundary position between the pointer main body 30 and the base end 36, there is a parting line 50 along the dividing line M3-M5. It is formed. Although not shown in FIG. 4, the parting line 50 is also formed at the boundary position between the pointer main body 30 and the base end portion 36 in the pointer upper surface portion 40.

[Description of the lighting structure of the pointer]
The illumination structure of the pointer 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B. 5A is a cross-sectional view taken along a cutting line AA in FIG. FIG. 5B is a top view of the pointer 20.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, a substrate 18 is installed on the back side of the dial 16 via a standing wall portion 19. A pointer rotation shaft portion 51 which is a rotation shaft of the step motor 52 installed on the substrate 18 is attached near the center of the flange portion 32 of the pointer 20. The step motor 52 is driven by a drive control unit 53 installed on the substrate 18 to rotate the pointer 20.

  In the vicinity of the pointer rotation shaft portion 51 of the substrate 18, a light source 60 made of, for example, an LED (light emitting diode) is installed. The lighting state of the light source 60 is controlled by the illumination control unit 54 installed on the substrate 18. The irradiation direction of the light source 60 is installed so as to be directed toward the light incident portion 33, and emits illumination light (light rays) for illuminating the pointer 20. FIG. 5A shows one light source 60 as an example. However, the pointer rotation shaft portion 51 is arranged so that a uniform amount of illumination light can be incident on the light incident portion 33 regardless of the rotation position of the pointer 20. A plurality of light sources may be installed circumferentially at the surrounding positions.

  A light ray emitted from the light source 60 (for example, the light ray L1) enters the inside of the base end portion 36 from the light incident portion 33 and is reflected by the reflection surface 34.

  Thereafter, the light beam L1 is repeatedly reflected at the point P1, the point Q1, the point P2, the point Q2, the point P3, the point Q3, the point P4, the point Q4, the point P5, the point Q5, and the point P6. It is guided toward. In addition, although the light ray radiate | emitted from a light source has a predetermined breadth, the light ray L1 shown here represents the chief ray in it.

  A white layer with high reflectivity is printed on the pointer lower surface portion 42 by a printing processing method called hot stamping. Therefore, the light rays that have reached the points Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, and Q5 of the pointer lower surface portion 42 are reflected toward the pointer upper surface portion 40.

  On the other hand, among the light rays reaching the point P1 at the base end portion 36 and the light rays reaching the points P2, P3, P4, P5, and P6 at the pointer upper surface portion 40, the light rays incident at an angle shallower than the critical angle are: In order to satisfy the total reflection condition, total reflection is performed toward the tip of the pointer main body 30.

  Light rays that do not satisfy the total reflection condition are diffused at points P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, and P6 and are emitted to the outside of the pointer 20. At this time, it seems that the pointer 20 is illuminated from the outside.

  Of the upper surface of the base end portion 36 and the pointer main body 30, the surface exposed to the outside from the gap of the slit 24 is subjected to a textured surface, and as shown in FIG. 5B, the base end portion 36 of the pointer 20 A first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region) and a second wrinkle region 82 are formed in this order from the side. Wrinkle processing is also called pear processing, and is surface processing that forms fine irregularities on the surface. This processing is generally performed by an air blast device (sand blast device). The pointer 20 is molded using a mold as described above, and the embossing is performed on the surface of the mold. The degree of embossing is represented by the density, depth, roughness, and diameter of the unevenness applied to the surface. For example, when rough beads are sprayed, embossing that is deep, deep, rough, and large in diameter is formed. On the other hand, when fine beads are sprayed, wrinkles that are thin, shallow, fine, and small in diameter are formed. When such a texture is applied to the surface of the light guide, the amount of light totally reflected on the surface and the amount of light diffused on the surface of the light guided inside the light guide are changed. be able to.

  In FIG. 5B, the first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region) is formed in a region including the parting line 50. In the first wrinkle region 80, dark wrinkles (deep, rough, large diameter) are formed so that the light rays are diffused as widely as possible outside the pointer 20.

  The second wrinkle region 82 is formed adjacent to the first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region). In the second wrinkle region 82, wrinkles that are thinner (shallow, fine, smaller in diameter) than the wrinkles formed in the first wrinkle region 80 are formed.

  In this way, by forming the first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region) in the region including the parting line 50, the concentration of light on the parting line 50 can be reduced, and the occurrence of the above-described spotlighting can be reduced. Can be suppressed. Details will be described later.

  Further, by forming a thin (shallow, fine, small diameter) texture in the second texture area 82, the light guided inside the pointer main body 30 is emitted from the pointer upper surface 40 with uniform brightness. In addition, the light beam can be guided to the tip of the pointer 20. Details will be described later.

[Description of Operation of Example 1]
Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6A to 6C. FIG. 6A is a diagram illustrating the behavior of the light beams L2 and L3 in the vicinity of the parting line 50 formed on the pointer 20 in the first embodiment.

  In the vicinity of the parting line 50, the light beam guided through the pointer 20 arrives from various directions. Among them, the light ray that has entered the parting line 50 like the light ray L2 travels inside the parting line 50, diffuses on the surface of the parting line 50, and is emitted to the outside as diffused light D1.

  In addition, the light beam L3 that has reached the vicinity of the parting line 50 is diffused by the grain formed in the first grain area 80 (boundary area) including the parting line 50, and is emitted to the outside of the pointer 20 as diffused light D3. To do.

  On the other hand, when no wrinkle is formed in the vicinity of the parting line 50, as shown in FIG. 6B, the light beam L3 that has reached the vicinity of the parting line 50 exits from the surface of the pointer 20 to the outside, and then It diffuses on the side surface of the ring line 50 and is emitted as the diffused light D2 to the outside of the pointer 20.

  That is, when FIG. 6A is compared with FIG. 6B, the light beam that has reached the surface near the parting line 50 by forming a grain in the first grain region 80 (boundary region) near the parting line 50 Is widely diffused toward the outside of the pointer 20. Therefore, the vicinity of the parting line 50 is brightly illuminated by this diffused light. On the other hand, light rays emitted from the surface of the pointer 20 to the outside and further hitting the parting line 50 are reduced. Therefore, the concentration of light on the parting line 50 is suppressed, and the occurrence of spotlight is suppressed.

  In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6C, a second wrinkle region 82 is formed at a position adjacent to the tip side of the pointer 20 with respect to the first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region). ing. In the second wrinkle region 82, as shown in FIG. 6C, a wrinkle thinner (shallow, fine, smaller in diameter) than the wrinkle formed in the first wrinkle region 80 is formed.

  By providing such a second wrinkle region 82, the light beam guided toward the distal end side of the pointer main body 30 is diffused to the outside of the pointer 20 in the second wrinkle region 82, and the remaining light beam The light is further guided toward the tip of the pointer 20. At this time, since the wrinkles formed in the second wrinkle region 82 are shallow, the amount of light diffused outside the pointer 20 is smaller than that in the first wrinkle region 80. Therefore, since the attenuation amount of the light guided through the pointer 20 is small, the pointer 20 can be illuminated with uniform brightness up to the tip.

  In the first embodiment, the first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region) is formed in a range including the parting line 50, but the formation range of the second wrinkle region 82 depends on the shape and material of the pointer to be used. , Determined by experiments and the like. The same applies to the darkness (depth, roughness, size of diameter) of the grain to be formed.

  Next, another embodiment of the pointer structure for a vehicle meter according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5C and 6D.

  FIG. 5C is a top view of the pointer 20a to which the pointer structure for a vehicle instrument according to the present invention is applied. Since the internal structure of the pointer 20a is the same as that of the pointer 20 described in the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 5C, a first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region), a second wrinkle region 84, and a third wrinkle region 86 are sequentially formed on the upper surface of the pointer 20a. In addition, a texture as shown in FIG. 6D is formed in each region. Specifically, dark (deep, coarse, large diameter) texture is formed in the first texture area 80, and the second texture area 84 is thinner (shallow, fine, diameter) than the first texture area 80. (Small) wrinkles are formed. In the third wrinkle region 86, a wrinkle that is thinner (shallow, fine, and smaller in diameter) than the second wrinkle region 84 is formed. That is, shallower wrinkles are formed toward the distal end side of the pointer 20.

  By forming such a wrinkle distribution, the attenuation of light during light guiding can be suppressed as much as possible, and light can be reliably guided to the tip of the pointer 20a, and the luminance of the pointer 20a can be made even more uniform. be able to.

  In the second embodiment, the first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region) is formed in a range including the parting line 50, but the formation range of the second wrinkle region 84 and the third wrinkle region 86 is the guideline to be used. It is determined by experiment or the like according to the shape and material. The same applies to the darkness (depth) of the grain to be formed.

  As described above, according to the pointer 20 of the vehicle speedometer 10 (vehicle instrument) according to the first embodiment, the illumination light emitted from the light source 60 is transmitted from the light incident portion 33 provided at the base end portion 36 to the pointer 20. Is reflected by the reflecting surface 34 and guided inside the pointer main body 30. Part of the guided light is emitted to the outside from the pointer upper surface portion 40, and the remaining light is directed toward the tip of the pointer 20 while being repeatedly reflected between the pointer upper surface portion 40 and the pointer lower surface portion 42. Make it progress. At this time, since the texture is formed on the outer surface of the boundary between the pointer main body 30 and the base end portion 36 to form the first texture region 80 (boundary region), the light reaching the first texture region 80 is diffused and the first texture region 80 is diffused. Concentration of light on the one embossed area 80 is suppressed. Therefore, the occurrence of spotlight in the boundary region between the pointer main body 30 and the base end portion 36 is alleviated, and the pointer upper surface portion 40 can be illuminated with uniform brightness.

  Further, according to the indicator 20 of the vehicle speedometer 10 (vehicle instrument) according to the first embodiment, the indicator 20 is injected and injected into the molds 70, 72, 74, and 76 to cool and solidify the heated and melted material. Since the first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region) is a region including the parting line 50 generated at the division positions of the molds 70, 72, 74, and 76, the parting line is formed. The flashing due to the concentration of light on 50 is suppressed, and the pointer upper surface portion 40 can be illuminated with uniform brightness.

  Then, according to the pointer 20 of the vehicle speedometer 10 (vehicle instrument) according to the first embodiment, the shallower wrinkles than the wrinkles formed in the first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region) are formed on the distal end side of the upper surface portion 40 of the pointer. Since the formed second wrinkle region 82 is formed, attenuation of light reaching the second wrinkle region 82 is suppressed and light is guided toward the tip of the pointer 20, so that uniform brightness is obtained until the pointer 20 reaches the tip. It can be illuminated with.

  Furthermore, according to the pointer 20a of the vehicle speedometer 10 (vehicle instrument) according to the second embodiment, the second wrinkle region having a shallower wrinkle from the first wrinkle region 80 (boundary region) to the distal end side of the pointer upper surface portion 40. 84, and the third wrinkle region 86 having a shallower wrinkle is formed on the tip side of the upper surface portion 40 of the pointer, so that light attenuation is suppressed and light is reliably guided to the tip of the pointer 20a. Can do. Therefore, it is possible to illuminate the pointer 20a with even brightness even up to the tip.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the embodiments are only examples of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the embodiments. Needless to say, design changes and the like within a range not departing from the gist of the invention are included in the present invention.

  For example, the divided structure of the mold for molding the pointer main body 30 is not limited to the form shown in FIG. That is, the pointer main body 30 may be molded using the mold 70 and the mold 74 as one mold and the mold 72 and the mold 76 as one mold. In this case, in FIG. 4, M1-M2-M5-M6 is the dividing line of the mold. However, even when such a mold division structure is used, since the parting line 50 is formed, the region including the parting line 50 needs to be textured.

16 ··· Dial 18 ··· Substrate 20 · · · Pointer 22 · · · Pointer cap 30 · · · Pointer body portion 32 · · · Flange portion 33 · · · Light incident portion 34 ··· Reflecting surface 36 ··· Base end portion 40 ··· Pointer upper surface portion 42 ··· Pointer lower surface portion 50 ··· Parting line 60 · · · Light source 80 · · · 1 wrinkle area (boundary area)
82... Second wrinkle area

Claims (4)

A base end portion composed of a light incident portion for making illumination light incident therein and a reflecting surface narrower than the light incident portion for reflecting light incident from the light incident portion;
A pointer main body formed continuously from the base end portion and positioned opposite to each other, the pointer main body including a pointer upper surface portion and a pointer lower surface portion narrower than the pointer upper surface portion; A vehicle instrument that guides the illumination light to the distal end side while alternately reflecting the illumination light by a portion and a lower surface portion of the pointer, and emits a part of the illumination light to the outside from the upper surface portion of the pointer A guide structure having translucency,
A pointer structure for a vehicular instrument, wherein a wrinkle is formed at least in a boundary region between the upper surface portion of the pointer and the base end portion. The pointer structure is formed by injecting and injecting a heat-melted resin material into a mold and cooling and solidifying,
The pointer structure for a vehicle instrument according to claim 1, wherein the boundary region is a region including a parting line generated at a division position of the mold.   3. The pointer structure for a vehicular instrument according to claim 1 or 2, wherein in the pointer structure, a wrinkle shallower than a wrinkle formed in the boundary region is formed on a tip side of the upper surface portion of the pointer. .   In the said pointer structure, the shallower wrinkle is formed in the said needle | hook upper surface part as it goes to the front end side of the said needle | hook upper surface part from the said boundary area | region, The any one of Claims 1-3 characterized by the above-mentioned. The guide structure of the vehicle instrument described in 1.