JP3203833B2 - Indicating instrument - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle indicating instrument.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-193012 discloses a method in which a measurement amount is indicated on a scale or the like of a display panel in a pseudo-pointer manner by a laser beam. What has been proposed.
As shown in FIG. 3, the laser beam emitted from the light source 38 provided at the lower part of the dial 35 is reflected to the upper part of the dial 35 by the reflecting mirror 32, and the laser beam is reflected by the movement 30 provided at the instrument case 31. Through a shaft hole 37 of a second rotating shaft 36 rotating via one rotating shaft 39, a reflecting mirror 33 and a cylindrical lens 34 provided on the dial 35 and rotating with the second rotating shaft, and passing through a shaft 35 as a pointer B
The light is projected upward. With this configuration, the designated length and designated width can be changed without increasing the driving torque of the movement, and the adoption of the optical pseudo pointer has an effect of being excellent in aesthetics and design.

[0003]

However, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 3, a spot-like laser beam is diffused in a band shape through a cylindrical lens, and the band-like laser beam is used as an optical pseudo pointer toward the tip from the root. Light is projected. Therefore, the vicinity of the root of the pseudo pointer is bright because it is close to the focal point of the cylindrical lens, but the brightness gradually decreases as it moves away from the focal point of the cylindrical lens toward the distal end.
In this case, it cannot be said that the pseudo guide by light is sufficiently fulfilling its role, and for the driver, the visibility is reduced due to the influence of external light or the like.

[0004] Furthermore, the optical pseudo pointer itself is excellent in aesthetics and design, but at the root of the pointer, the driver can see the means for guiding light from the back of the dial to the front of the dial. It is necessary to cover it with a cap or the like so as not to make it complicated. Therefore, it is not aesthetic to look at the entire indicating instrument.

[0005] In addition, the prior art, as in the prior art,
Since the light is guided from the lower part of the dial, movements etc. are located at the lower part of the dial, and the instrument case that holds them is also in the instrument panel with the same size as before, and the instrument There is a problem that the layout of parts in the instrument panel is restricted.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical pseudo pointer having better visibility, an aesthetic dial, and an instrument case which does not limit the layout in an instrument panel. And

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an indicating instrument according to the present invention has a display panel on which a measured amount is displayed, and a rotating shaft which rotates by a predetermined angle according to the measured amount. A movement, light deriving means for guiding beam-like light toward the display panel, and provided on the rotating shaft, rotating together with the rotating shaft, and converting the light from the light deriving means from a beam shape to an elongated strip shape. Indicating instrument with optical means
And the movement, the rotation axis, and the optical means
Are all provided on the front surface of the display panel .

[0008]

The beam-like light guided by the light guiding means passes through the optical means fixed to the movement and is projected from the upper part of the display panel onto the display panel. The optical means is provided on a rotating shaft that rotates according to the measured amount of the movement, and rotates together with the rotating shaft. Therefore, the beam-like light that has passed through the optical means becomes a band-like light,
The light is projected on the display panel as an optical pseudo pointer indicating the measured amount. Here, since the optical pseudo pointer is configured to be projected from the upper part of the dial, the optical path difference of the projection light between the vicinity of the root and the tip of the pointer can be reduced.

[0009]

FIG. 1 shows a structure of an indicating instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention. Movement 7 located in cluster 14
Is attached to the instrument case 10 via the bracket 9. A laser oscillation opening 11, a convex lens 1 for condensing laser light in a spot shape, and a reflecting mirror 3 are fixed to the movement 7 via a holder 4.
A laser beam from a laser oscillator (not shown) is guided to the laser oscillation port 11 by an optical fiber 12. The holder 5 is press-fitted into the rotation shaft 8 of the movement 7, and the holder 5 is fixed with the micro-cylinder lens 2 shown in FIG. I have. Further, a light shielding plate 6 for adjusting the amount of light is attached to the micro cylinder lens 2. A dial 13 on which scales and the like are displayed is attached to the upper surface of the instrument case 10. Dial 13
Is composed of an acrylic plate on which a design such as a scale is printed, and a lighting device using electroluminescence.

In the above structure, the laser light output from the laser oscillator is guided by the optical fiber 12 to the laser oscillation port 11 and emitted. Here, since there is a difference in the refractive index between the core portion of the optical fiber 12 and the air, the laser light emitted from the laser oscillation port 11 has a certain degree of spread. Is done. The condensed laser light is converted into a long band-like laser light by the micro-cylinder lens 2 via the reflecting mirror 3 and projected on the surface of the dial 13.

Here, the optical axis of the laser beam is
And the direction of reflection of the reflecting mirror 3 and the center of the scale of the dial 13 via the micro cylinder lens 2. The microcylinder lens 2 is fixed to the movement 7 by the holder 5 so as to rotate with the rotation of the rotation axis 8 of the movement 7 about the center axis of the optical system, that is, the optical axis of the laser beam. Accordingly, the micro-cylinder lens 2 is driven to rotate in accordance with the measured amount input to the movement 7, and the belt-shaped laser light emitted from the micro-cylinder lens 2 rotates around the center of the scale on the surface of the dial 13. And the light is projected on the area indicating the measured amount.

Note that the length of the optical pseudo pointer can be freely changed by changing the curvature of the micro cylinder lens 2. Further, by extending the light shielding plate 6 beyond the axial center in the direction of blocking the projection light, it is possible to project light only in the direction of the tip of the optical pseudo pointer. Further, the width of the optical pseudo pointer can be freely set by changing the diameter of the convex lens 1 or shifting the position of the convex lens in the optical axis direction.

As described above, the laser light emitted from the laser oscillation port 11 is converted into a thin band by the convex lens 1 and the micro cylinder lens 2 and becomes a pseudo pointer A which looks like a pointer on the dial 13 surface. Works. Therefore, the designated length and designated width can be changed without increasing the driving torque of the movement, and the aesthetic and
Excellent in design.

Further, in this embodiment, since the optical pseudo pointer A is formed by the laser light emitted from the laser oscillation port 11 and the scale is indicated from the upper part of the dial 13, the micro cylinder lens is used. 2, there is no remarkable difference in the reaching distance of the light converted into the belt-shaped laser light to the dial 13, that is, the optical path difference between the vicinity of the base of the pointer and the vicinity of the tip. Therefore, the optical pseudo pointer A
In the vicinity of the root and the tip, the density of the laser beam hardly appears, and a pseudo pointer with good visibility can be formed.

Further, it is only necessary to print only the display design on the dial 13, and there is no need to construct a cap or the like that covers the light guide from the base of the pointer as in the prior art. Can be very aesthetic. As a result, a highly visible indicating instrument can be provided.

In the above embodiment, the dial 13
Although the illumination by electroluminescence is used for the illumination, the illumination by the back light source may be used. Also, the instrument case 10 can be reduced by moving the movement 7 to the cluster side, and even if a back light source from the back of the dial is used, the thickness can be reduced to one third or less of the conventional thickness. Furthermore, if only illumination by electroluminescence is required, the thickness of the dial can be reduced to about the thickness. As a result, the space of the instrument case 10 occupying the instrument panel is reduced, and the instrument panel space can be used more effectively.

If the optical fiber 13 is installed in the rotating shaft 8 and laser light is emitted from the tip of the rotating shaft, the configuration can be simplified by omitting the reflecting mirror 3 and the like.

[0018]

Effects of the Invention According to the present invention as described above, a configuration in which light is projected from the display panel upper optical pseudo <br/> similar guidelines, the optical path difference of the projection light in the vicinity near the base and the tip of the pointer Since it is made small, there is almost no difference in brightness between the vicinity of the base of the pointer and the vicinity of the tip. For this reason, a very good visibility of the pseudo guideline. In addition, since there is no cap or the like on the display panel that hides the light guiding portion at the root of the pointer, which is complicated, it is possible to provide an indicating instrument excellent in aesthetics and design. Moreover, the back of the instrument can be made thinner,
As the degree of freedom in the layout of the instrument panel increases
There is such an excellent effect.

Further, since the movement is not in the instrument case, the instrument case itself can be made smaller, and many effects such as greater freedom of layout in the instrument panel can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a method of forming an optical pseudo pointer and a method of projecting light.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a micro cylinder lens for forming an optical pseudo pointer.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a conventional indicating instrument for a vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Convex lens 2 Micro cylinder lens 3 Reflecting mirror 6 Light shielding plate 7 Movement 8 Rotation axis 10 Instrument case 11 Laser oscillation port 12 Optical fiber 13 Dial

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01D 7/00 302 G01D 13/28

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A display panel on which an amount to be measured is displayed, a movement having a rotation axis that rotates by a predetermined angle according to the amount to be measured , and a light deriving unit for guiding a beam of light toward the display panel; An indicator provided on the rotating shaft, rotating with the rotating shaft, and optical means for converting light from the light deriving means from a beam shape to an elongated strip shape , wherein the movement, the rotating shaft, and the optical means are provided. And the whole
An indicating instrument provided on a front surface of the display panel .