JP2537763Y2 - Operation unit illumination device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operating unit illuminating device for illuminating the surroundings of an operating member at night or the like in an on-vehicle audio device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an audio equipment mounted on a vehicle, an illuminating device is provided so that the position of an operation member can be identified at night. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a conventional illumination device of an operation unit. Reference numeral 1 denotes an operation panel, which is a front surface of a nose portion of the in-vehicle audio device. Reference numeral 3 denotes a rotary operation member for operations such as volume control and balance control, and protrudes outside through a hole 2 formed in the operation panel 1. A display unit 4 is provided below the hole 2 on the surface of the operation panel 1. The display unit 4 is formed by cutting the operation panel 1 into a shape such as a number or a character by etching or the like, and a light transmitting member is embedded in the cutout.

A light guide member 5 made of a transparent resin material or the like is fixed to the inner surface of the operation panel 1. The light guide member 5 has a through hole 5a from which the operation member 3 projects. The through-hole 5a is provided in the hole 2 of the operation panel 1.
The front edge 5b of the through hole 5a is exposed on the inner periphery of the hole 2 and the outer periphery of the operation member 3 so as to be visible from the front. Lamp 6 at night
Lights up, the light of the lamp 6 passes through the light guide member 5,
The edge 5b emits light, and the outer periphery of the operation member 3 is illuminated. In addition, the display unit 4 is also illuminated from the inside, so that characters and numerals on the display unit 4 can be easily checked from outside.

[0004]

In the conventional example shown in FIG. 3, the light of the lamp 6 directly reaches the operation member 3 through the light guide path A in the light guide member 5. Therefore, light does not directly reach a portion of the light guide member 5 located below the operation member 3. Therefore, when looking at the periphery of the operation member 3, the visual part of B becomes bright, the visual part of C becomes dark, and the illumination state is not uniform. Further, as shown in FIG.
When the display unit 4 is disposed below the operation member 3, the illumination on the display unit 4 is also darkened, and the display is difficult to see. The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an operation unit illuminating device that can uniformly illuminate the periphery of an operation member using a light guide member.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided an operation unit illuminating device having an operation panel having a hole, an operation member protruding from the hole, and an operation member disposed inside the operation panel and surrounding the operation member. A light guide member that surrounds and is exposed to the inner periphery of the hole, and a light source that provides light to the light guide member, wherein the light guide member includes a recess into which the light source is inserted. A groove located on an optical path extending directly from the concave portion to the operation member, and a light shielding wall protruding from an inner surface of the operation panel is inserted into the groove.

[0006]

In the above means, the light-shielding wall is interposed in the light guide member on the light path directly from the concave portion to the operation member, so that the light of the light source inserted into the concave portion does not directly reach the operation member. . Therefore, the light of the light source will extend around the operation member, bypassing the light shielding wall in the light guide member,
The light guide member around the operation member emits light uniformly, so that unbiased illumination can be performed. Further, the light-shielding wall is integrally protruded inside the operation panel, and is fitted in the groove of the light guide member, so that the light guide member can be positioned by this fitting.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the operation unit illumination device according to the present invention from the inside of the device, and FIG. 2 is a front view showing it from the front side. Reference numeral 10 denotes a nose portion of an on-vehicle audio device,
Reference numeral 1 denotes the operation panel. The operation panel 11 has 4
Holes 12a, 12b, 12c, and 12d are formed. As shown in FIG. 2, on the front of the operation panel 11,
Display portions 13a, 13b, 13c and 13d are provided in portions located below the holes 12a to 12d. Characters such as "BASS" are removed from these display units by means such as etching the operation panel 11. As shown in FIG. 1, the operation panel 11 has light guide materials 14a, 14b, 14c, and 14d attached to portions located on the back side of the display units 13a, 13b, 13c, and 13d. This light-guiding material is a translucent material such as white, and is in a state of penetrating into a character blank portion of the display unit. It is displayed as a white light guide material.

As shown in FIG. 1, arc-shaped light-shielding walls 15a, 15b, and 15c protrude integrally from the back surface of the operation panel 11. Further, female screw holes 16a and 16b are formed on the back surface of the operation panel 11. Operation panel 11
A light guide member 20 is provided on the back surface of the light guide member. The light guide member 20 is entirely formed of a transparent resin material. The light guide member 20 has four through holes 21a, 21b,
21c and 21d are formed. These through holes 21
a to 21d are located concentrically inside the holes 12a to 12d. The inner diameters of the through holes 21a to 21d are formed smaller than the inner diameters of the holes 12a to 12d, and as a result, when viewed from the front of the operation panel 11, as shown in FIG. Edge portions 27a, 27b on the front surface of through holes 21a to 21d,
27c and 27d are exposed concentrically on the inner periphery of the holes 12a to 12d. As shown in FIG. 2, the edges 27a to 27d of the front surface are unevenly formed in a jagged shape, and light transmitted through the light guide member 20 is irregularly reflected at the jagged edges 27a to 27d. When viewed from the outside, the edges 27a to 27d emit light uniformly.

The respective through holes 21a to 21d
An operation member 31 is inserted into the inside from the inside of the apparatus, and protrudes forward from the holes 12a to 12d of the operation panel 11.
The operation member 31 is a rotary operation member. As shown in FIG. 2, when viewed from the front side of the operation panel 11, the outer periphery of the operation member 31 surrounds the edge 27 a of the jagged light guide member 20.
To 27d are surrounded, and the outer periphery is further surrounded by the inner edges of the holes 12a to 12d.

On the back surface of the light guide member 20, a concave portion 2 formed at the center of the arrangement of the four through holes 21a to 21d is provided.
2a and a concave portion 22b located at the lower center of the two lower through holes 21c and 21d are formed. This recess 2
A lamp 32 is inserted into 2a and 22b. In the illustrated embodiment, the recesses 22a and 22b have a bottomed shape and the bottom is substantially spherical. However, the recesses 22a and 22b may be holes penetrating the light guide member 20.

On both sides of the concave portion 22a of the light guide member 20, irregularly reflecting prisms 23a and 23b are formed. The irregular reflection prism 23a is connected to the display unit 1 of the operation panel 11.
3a is closely attached to or opposes the light guide material 14a on the back side of
The irregular reflection prism 23b is in close contact with or faces the light guide material 14b on the back side of the display unit 13b. Similarly, diffusely reflecting prisms 23c and 23d are integrally formed on both sides of the concave portion 22b, and these are respectively formed of the light guide materials 14c and 14d.
Is in close contact with, or faces. Each diffuse reflection prism 23
The back surfaces of a to 23d have inclined surfaces 26a, 26b, 26c inclined from the sides of the concave portions 22a, 22b toward the edge.
At 26d, the inclined surface is formed with a knurled shape.
The light from the lamp 32 inserted into the recesses 22a and 22b is irregularly reflected by the jagged inclined surface and is uniformly applied to the light guide materials 14a to 14d of the operation panel 11.

The light guide member 20 has arc-shaped grooves 24a, 2a.
4b and 24c are formed to penetrate. Light guide member 20
Is attached, the arc-shaped light-shielding wall 1
5a, 15b and 15c are fitted in the respective grooves 24a, 24b and 24c. Light-shielding wall 1 fitted into uppermost groove 24a
5a blocks an optical path directly above the concave portion 22a, that is, from the concave portion 22a to the through holes 21a and 21b. Also, a light shielding wall 15b fitted into the second groove 24b from the top
Blocks an optical path directly from the recess 22a to the through holes 21c and 21d. Similarly, the light-shielding wall 15c fitted into the lowermost groove 24c is formed from the recess 22b through the through holes 21c and 21d.
To block the light path directly to.

The light guide member 20 has grooves 24a to 24a.
The light-shielding walls 15a to 15c are fitted into the mounting holes 25a, 2c.
5b and fixed by screwing into the female screw holes 16a and 16b. With the light guide member 20 attached to the back surface of the operation panel 11, the lamp 32 is
a and 22b. Further, when the nose portion 10 is attached to the housing, the through holes 21a to 21d of the light guide member 20 and the holes 12a to 12d are formed.
The operation member 31 protrudes forward of the operation panel 11 after passing through the inside d.

The illumination operation of the operation unit illumination device will be described. In the in-vehicle acoustic device, when the lighting switch of the spare light of the car is turned on at night, the lamp 32 is turned on. The light of the lamp 32 is guided into the light guide member 20 from the concave portions 22a and 22b. However, the illustrated vertical direction of the concave portion 22a is surrounded by the light shielding walls 15a and 15b, and the upper part of the concave portion 22b is surrounded by the light shielding wall 15c. Therefore, a direct optical path from the inside of the recesses 22a and 22b to each of the holes 21a to 21d is blocked, and the light is guided toward the irregular reflection prisms 23a to 23d which are not surrounded by the light shielding walls 15a to 15c. The light that directly travels in the direction of each of the irregular reflection prisms 23a to 23d is irregularly reflected by the knurled portions of the inclined surfaces 26a to 26d on the back surface, and furthermore, the inclined surfaces 26a to 26d cause the light guiding materials 14a to 14d.
Irradiated in the direction of d. Thereby, the display unit 1 shown in FIG.
3a to 13d are in a very bright light emitting state, and are easily recognized when visually observed from the outside.

Further, the light transmitted from the concave portions 22a and 22b in the direction of the irregular reflection prisms 23a to 23d bypasses the light shielding walls 15a, 15b and 15c and reaches around the through holes 21a to 21d. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the jagged edges 27a to 27d exposed inside the holes 12a to 12d of the operation panel 11 emit light, and the operation member 3
1 is brightly illuminated. The light from the lamp 32 in the recesses 22a and 22b is bypassed by the light shielding walls 15a to 15c without directly reaching the through holes 21a to 21d to reach the surroundings. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, uneven illumination around the operation member is not performed, and uniform illumination can be obtained.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, the operating unit illuminating device provided in the on-vehicle audio equipment has been described. However, the illuminating device of the present invention can be applied to other in-vehicle operating units or home appliances. It is possible.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, light is not transmitted directly from the light source inserted into the concave portion toward the operation member, and light around the operation member is emitted by the bypassed light. Uniform illumination is possible without light bias.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing one embodiment of an operation unit illumination device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the lighting device of FIG. 1 as viewed from the front side of an operation panel;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional operation unit illumination device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 11 operation panel 12 a to 12 d hole 13 a to 13 d display unit 15 a to 15 c light shielding wall 20 light guide member 21 a to 21 d through hole 22 a, 22 b recess 23 a to 23 d diffuse reflection prism 24 a to 24 c groove 31 operation member 32 lamp

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. An operation panel having a hole, an operation member protruding from the hole, and a light guide member disposed inside the operation panel, surrounding the operation member and exposed to the inner periphery of the hole. And an operation unit illuminating device provided with a light source that gives light to the light guide member, wherein the light guide member includes:
A concave portion into which the light source is inserted, and a groove located on an optical path directly from the concave portion to the operation member are formed, and a light-shielding wall protruding from an inner surface of the operation panel is inserted into the groove. Operation unit illumination device.