JP4828377B2 - Instrument device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an instrument device mounted on, for example, an automobile, and in particular, a plate-shaped light guide provided with a design portion and a background plate serving as a background of the design portion are stacked with a space portion therebetween, and the design portion is plated. The present invention relates to an instrument device of a type that performs light guide illumination through a light guide and indirectly illuminates a background plate with reflected light.

As this type of instrument device, for example, one described in Patent Document 1 below is known. The instrument device includes a plate-shaped light guide including a design portion, a background plate disposed behind the plate-shaped light guide with a space portion, and a light source that illuminates the plate-shaped light guide and the background plate. And. The light source is arranged so that light can be incident on the plate-shaped light guide from its thickness direction. The light from the light source is taken into the plate-shaped light guide to illuminate the design portion and light from the light source. Is reflected by a reflection layer formed on the back surface of the plate-shaped light guide to indirectly illuminate the background plate. The background plate has gradation printing in which the color tone gradually changes from blue to black according to the plane direction by a halftone dot printing technique, and when the light source is turned on, the gradation printing is illuminated by the light from the light source, When the light source is turned off, gradation printing is visually recognized by natural light (external light) entering through the plate-shaped light guide. In this way, by laminating the plate-shaped light guide and the background plate with a space portion therebetween, not only a floating feeling is given to the design part, but also a depth feeling is given to the background itself by applying gradation printing to the background plate. is doing.
JP 2005-037364 A

  However, since the instrument device described in the above publication is configured to form a gradation pattern by printing and directly view the gradation pattern through light from a light source or natural light, a dot (halftone dot) pattern is visually recognized or a subtle color Or there was room for improvement in terms of appearance quality, such as difficulty in expressing changes in brightness. Further, the instrument device described in the above publication has a problem in that the expression method has to be monotonous because the same gradation pattern is always visible regardless of whether the light source is turned on or off.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of this point, and a main object thereof is to provide an instrument device that can improve the appearance quality of gradation.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a plate-shaped light guide having a design portion, a background plate disposed behind the plate-shaped light guide with a space therebetween, and the plate-shaped light guide. and a light source for irradiating light to the front surface of the background plate through the reflection means provided on the rear side of the plate-shaped light guide member as well as illuminating the design part by the incidence of light on said reflecting means the color tone and light The reflectance is configured to gradually change along the plate surface direction of the plate-shaped light guide, and the irradiation light irradiated from the light source to the front surface of the background plate through the reflection means, The background plate is formed with a light emitting surface whose light emission luminance gradually changes along the plate surface direction .

  In the invention, it is preferable that the light emitting surface includes a diffuse reflection surface that reflects light from the reflection means in a diffuse state.

  Further, the invention is characterized in that a transmissive member for changing the color of light of the light source is provided between the light source and the background plate.

  Further, the invention is characterized in that a light guide member for guiding light of the light source to the plate light guide and the reflecting means is provided between the light source and the plate light guide.

  Further, the invention is characterized in that a shielding member that covers at least the reflecting means is disposed in front of the plate-like light guide.

  Further, the present invention is characterized in that the plate light guide and the background plate are illuminated by a common light source.

  According to the present invention, the plate-shaped light guide has a through hole, a pointer that rotates about the front side of the plate-shaped light guide through the through hole, and a pointer shaft that rotates the pointer. And the design part is composed of an index part arranged along the turning trajectory of the pointer, and the reflecting means is closer to the pointer shaft than the design part and surrounds the through-hole. The light source is formed at a position closer to the pointer axis than the design portion, and the reflecting means reflects light from the light source in a radiation direction centered on the pointer axis.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an instrument device that can achieve the initial purpose and can improve the appearance quality of gradation.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view of an instrument device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the principal part of 2 together with a reflectance and a brightness | luminance characteristic.

  In FIG. 1, the instrument device according to the present embodiment includes an engine tachometer TA that represents the number of revolutions of an engine mounted on the vehicle, a speedometer SP that represents the traveling speed of the vehicle, a fuel meter FU that represents the amount of remaining fuel, A pointer-type meter comprising a water temperature meter TE representing the temperature of engine cooling water is provided.

  Since these pointer-type meters all have the same basic structure, the detailed structure will be described below using the speedometer SP as a representative example. However, a circuit board, a frame body, and a turn-back member, which will be described later, are each of the meters TA to TE. Are common parts.

  In FIG. 2, the speedometer SP includes a circuit board 1, a driving device 2, light sources 3 and 4, a frame body 5, a pointer light guide 6, a pointer 7, a light guide member 8, and a background plate. 9, a spacer member 10, a plate-like light guide 11, a shielding member 12, a turning member 13, a see-through member 14, and a frame member 15.

The circuit board 1 is a hard wiring board made of, for example, a glass epoxy material, and various electronic components (not shown) are electrically connected to a wiring pattern (not shown) in addition to the driving device 2 and the light sources 3 and 4.

  The drive device 2 is formed of, for example, a stepping motor, and is mounted so that the main body portion is positioned on the back surface of the circuit board 1 and the pointer shaft 21 penetrates the circuit board 1.

  The light sources 3 and 4 are made of, for example, light emitting diodes. A plurality of these light sources 3 and 4 are mounted on the front side of the circuit board 1 on a concentric circle with the pointer shaft 21 as the center. The background plate 9 and the plate-shaped light guide 11 are illuminated. The light emission colors of the light sources 3 and 4 are set such that the light source 3 is red and the light source 4 is white.

  The frame body 5 is made of, for example, milky white synthetic resin and is disposed on the front side of the circuit board 1 and is made of a rigid body that mounts and holds various components.

  The frame body 5 is formed with a partition wall 51 that divides the inside of the frame body 5 in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction in the figure, and in the partition wall 51 that surrounds the pointer shaft 21 of the partition wall 51, A background plate 9 is provided on a partition wall 51 in which the light source 3 and the guide light guide 6 are housed and extend in parallel with the circuit board 1, and is parallel to the partition wall 51 and the circuit board 1 surrounding the pointer shaft 21. The light source 4 and the light guide member 8 are disposed in a space formed between the partition wall 51 extending in the direction of the wall.

  The pointer light guide 6 is made of, for example, a translucent synthetic resin material, and has a cylindrical portion 61 that collects light from the light source 3 and guides the light to the pointer 9 mounted on the pointer shaft 21.

  The pointer 7 is composed of an instruction portion 71 made of, for example, a translucent synthetic resin material, and a pointer cover 72 that covers a required portion of the instruction portion 71, and is inserted into and fixed to the tip of the pointer shaft 21, thereby driving the driving device. 2 is rotated around the axis in accordance with the operation of 2, and the indicator 71 emits light upon receiving light from the light source 3 guided through the pointer light guide 6.

  The light guide member 8 is made of a translucent synthetic resin material, and has a cylindrical shape that collects light from the light source 4 and makes the light enter the plate-like light guide 11 and irradiate the front surface of the background plate 9. ing.

  The background plate 9 is formed on a substrate 91 made of, for example, a translucent synthetic resin material, a hairline layer (diffuse reflection layer) 92 having a concavo-convex shape formed on the front side of the substrate 91, and the back side of the substrate 91. The blue smoke layer 93 and a metal ink layer 94 formed on the back side of the blue smoke layer 93 are configured.

  The hairline layer 92 is printed using a transparent ink so that the surface has unevenness continuously, or using a transparent ink so that an unevenness pattern is formed by a portion where the ink is present and a portion where the ink is not present. Printed and the metal ink layer 94 is seen through the hairline layer 92, thereby expressing a metallic metallic texture and reflecting the light irradiated on the front surface of the background plate 9 in a diffused state due to the unevenness. Thus, a diffuse reflection surface forming a light emitting surface, which will be described later, is formed.

  The blue smoke layer 93 is formed by printing using a blue smoke ink so that the background plate 9 itself is visually recognized as a blue metallic tone background plate.

  The metal ink layer 94 is printed and formed using silver metallic ink mixed with metal powder such as aluminum powder.

  The spacer member 10 is made of, for example, a black synthetic resin material, and supports the plate-shaped light guide 11 with a space portion S in front of the background plate 9.

  The plate-shaped light guide 11 is formed, for example, from a translucent synthetic resin material in a flat plate shape, and a design portion 111 made of, for example, white ink is printed on the back surface thereof. In this case, the design portion 111 is Characters and scales to be indicated by the pointer 7 are formed (see FIG. 1).

  The plate-shaped light guide 11 has a through-hole 112 corresponding to the pointer shaft 21 and its surrounding area, and the pointer 7 and the pointer shaft 21 are connected through the through-hole 112 and an inner end surrounding the through-hole 112. The part is formed with a light guide reflection surface 113 having a circular arc shape in plan view for reflecting light introduced from the light guide member 8 into the plate light guide 11 in a radial direction along the plate surface direction. Further, the light emitted from the side of the light guide member 8 is reflected radially around the pointer shaft 21 on the back surface of the plate-like light guide 11 so as to surround the light guide reflection surface 113, and the background plate A reflecting layer (reflecting means) 114 for irradiating the front surface of 9 is formed.

  The reflective layer 114 is formed at a position closer to the pointer shaft 21 than the design portion 111. As shown in FIG. 3, the reflective layer 114 is printed using the first colored layer 115 printed using white ink and the blue ink. The second colored layer 116 and the third colored layer 117 formed by printing using a dark (for example, gray) smoke ink. Each of the first to third colored layers 115 to 117 is completely formed. It is printed in layers so that it can be seen in the order of white, blue, and the color in which the smoke color overlaps blue (dull blue) from the side close to the pointer shaft 21 in plan view. The second colored layer 116 and the third third colored layer 117 are halftone dots at the boundary portion between the second colored layer 115 and 116 and the boundary portion between the second and third colored layers 116 and 117, respectively. Gradient by printing Subjected, it is set so as inconspicuous boundary. In this way, the first to third colored layers 115 to 117 are laminated while being shifted, and further, gradation is formed by halftone printing at the boundary portion, so that the white color extends from the side closer to the pointer shaft 21 (light source 4) to the side farther from it. The color tone gradually changes from blue to blue, and further the color tone gradually changes from blue to dull blue, and the light reflectance gradually decreases from the side closer to the pointer shaft 21 to the side farther from the color tone. (See FIG. 3).

  The shielding member 12 is a plate around the rotational center of the pointer 7 so as to cover the entire inner region of the through hole 112 of the plate-like light guide 11 and the outer partial region of the through hole 112 including the region corresponding to the reflective layer 114. The light guide 11 is disposed on the front side.

  The shielding member 12 has a circular shape as a whole, for example, a concealing plate 121 made of a black synthetic resin material, an edge member 122 that is also made of a black synthetic resin material and surrounds the outer periphery of the concealing plate 121, for example, white And a reflecting plate 123 located behind the concealing plate 121 to conceal the periphery of the center of rotation of the pointer 7 and prevent the unnecessary portion from being visually recognized. Has improved.

  The facing member 13 is provided in a cylindrical shape surrounding a pointer-type display portion composed of the pointer 7 and the design portion 111 using, for example, a black synthetic resin material, and is disposed in front of the plate-like light guide 11. .

  The see-through member 14 is formed in a disc shape using a light-transmitting synthetic resin material so that the pointer-type display portion can be seen through, and is disposed in front of the turn-back member 13.

  The frame member 15 is provided in a cylindrical shape and is disposed in front of the see-through member 14 so as to conceal the joint portion between the turn-back member 13 and the see-through member 14 using, for example, a silver-colored synthetic resin material. .

  In the instrument device (speedometer SP) formed as described above, when the light sources 3 and 4 are turned off, natural light is incident so that the metallic tone background by the pointer 7, the design part 111, and the background plate 9 is visually recognized. At this time, the design part 111 is formed in a transparent body composed of the plate-like light guide 11, and the plate-like light guide 11 and the background plate 9 are arranged with a space S therebetween, so that the metallic background The design portion 111 is visually recognized with a three-dimensional effect. The appearance with such a stereoscopic effect is the same when the light sources 3 and 4 are turned on.

  On the other hand, when the light source 3 is turned on, the light reaches the pointer 7 through the pointer light guide 6 and causes the indicator 71 to emit light. When the light source 4 is turned on, the light is guided through the light guide member 8 into a plate-like light guide. It enters the body 11, is reflected through the light guide reflection surface 113, proceeds radially in the plate-like light guide 11, and illuminates the design part 111. A part of the light incident on the light guide member 8 is emitted from the side of the light guide member 8 and reaches the reflection layer 114, and is reflected by this portion and irradiated on the front side of the background plate 9. The front surface of the background plate 9 is composed of a hairline layer (diffuse reflection layer) 92 having a concavo-convex shape in cross section, and is formed as a light emitting surface LS that shines by reflecting the surface of light in a diffused state. By reflecting the light on the viewer side (the plate-like light guide 11 side), a light emitting design with a gradation described later is formed.

  Here, paying attention to the reflective layer 114, as described above, the reflective layer 114 gradually changes in color tone and light reflectance according to the planar direction of the plate-shaped light guide 11 (distance from the pointer shaft 21 or the light source 4). Therefore, the light (white) that is reflected by the reflective layer 114 and travels toward the background plate 9 changes to the blue base color and the plane direction of the plate-shaped light guide 11 (pointer shaft 21). Alternatively, the reflected light (irradiation light) whose luminance gradually changes according to the distance from the light source 4 and reaches the front surface of the background plate 9, the light emitting design formed on the light emitting surface LS is: The background plate 9 is visually recognized with a light blue gradation in which the light emission luminance gradually changes according to the plane direction (away from the pointer shaft 21 or the light source 4). Although the light emitting design is not shown, it is normally formed radially with the pointer shaft 21 as the center when viewed from the direction in which the observer visually recognizes the instrument device.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the plate-shaped light guide 11 provided with the design portion 111, and the background plate 9 disposed behind the plate-shaped light guide 11 with the space S therebetween, A light source 4 that illuminates the design portion 111 by making light incident on the plate-like light guide 11 and irradiates light on the front surface of the background plate 9 through a reflective layer 114 provided on the back side of the plate-like light guide 11 is provided. The background plate 9 has the light emitting surface LS that emits light so that the light emission luminance changes along the plate surface direction based on the intensity of the irradiation light from the reflective layer 114, so that the quality of the gradation can be improved. .

  In other words, in the present embodiment, based on the intensity of light applied to the background plate 9 through the reflective layer 114, in other words, light whose color and brightness are adjusted by the reflective layer 114 is projected onto the surface of the background plate 9. As a result, a light-emitting design with a gradation is formed, which makes it difficult to visually recognize a dot (halftone dot) pattern and to express a subtle color or brightness change compared to a gradation with a conventional printed pattern. Can be eliminated and the quality of the gradation can be improved.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, only when the light source 4 is turned on, the light emission design by gradation is visually recognized on the background plate 9 and is not visible when the light source 4 is turned off, so that the appearance changes between when the light source 4 is turned on and when the light source 4 is turned off. The conventional monotony can be eliminated.

  In the present embodiment, the reflection layer 114 is provided on the back surface of the plate-shaped light guide 11 as the reflection means. However, the reflection means is positioned on the back surface of the plate-shaped light guide 11 and irradiates the background plate 9. Any member can be used as long as it adjusts the light emission intensity. For example, a dedicated reflecting member provided between the light source 4 and the plate-like light guide 11 may be used.

In this embodiment also, by the light emitting surface LS consists diffuse reflecting surface for reflecting light from the anti-picolinimidate 114 in a diffusion state, it is possible to widen the range of light-emission design, the observer emission from a wide eyepoint There is an effect that the design can be visually recognized.

  In the present embodiment, the reflection layer 114 includes the colored layers 115 to 117 whose light reflectance gradually changes along the plate surface direction of the plate-like light guide 11, thereby changing the luminance (color) of the light emitting design. Can be smooth. In the present embodiment, the reflective layer 114 is composed of a plurality of layers having different colors and reflectivities, but may be composed of a single layer.

  In the present embodiment, the light guide member 8 that guides the light from the light source 4 to the plate-like light guide 11 and the reflective layer 114 is provided between the light source 4 and the plate-like light guide 11, thereby improving the illumination efficiency. Can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the shielding member 12 that covers at least the reflective layer 114 is disposed in front of the plate-shaped light guide 11, thereby preventing the reflective layer 114 from being visually recognized and improving the appearance. .

  In the present embodiment, the plate-shaped light guide 11 and the background plate 9 are illuminated by the common light source 4, thereby reducing the number of light sources and reducing the cost.

  In this embodiment, the plate-shaped light guide 11 has a through-hole 112, and the pointer 7 that rotates about the front side of the plate-shaped light guide 11 through the through-hole 112 and the pointer 7 are rotated. The pointer shaft 21 to be moved is connected, and the design portion 111 is composed of an indicator portion arranged along the rotation path of the pointer 7, and the reflection layer 114 is closer to the pointer shaft 21 than the design portion 111 and penetrates. It is formed so as to surround the hole 112, the light source 4 is disposed at a position closer to the pointer shaft 21 than the design portion 11, and the reflection layer 114 reflects light from the light source 4 in a radiation direction around the pointer shaft 21. Thus, a light emitting design that spreads around the position of the pointer shaft 21 can be efficiently formed with a small number of light sources 4.

  FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the light color (for example, white) of the light source 4 is set between the light source 4 and the background plate 9 (for example, blue). The transmission member 16 to be changed is provided, and other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  The transmissive member 16 is made of a translucent synthetic resin material colored in blue, and is integrated with the light guide member 8 also made of synthetic resin by means such as hook coupling, press fitting, and two-color molding.

  With this configuration, the light that reaches the reflective layer 114 through the light guide member 8 is colored blue in the process of transmitting through the transmissive member 16, and thus the light emission that was light blue in the first embodiment. The base color of the design can be adjusted to a deeper blue color.

  The transmissive member 16 only needs to be able to change the color of light reaching the reflective layer 114 through the light guide member 8, and may be one in which a colored film, a colored layer, or a colored paint is attached to the outer periphery of the light guide member 8.

  FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the front surface of the background plate 9 (the dark color (for example, gray) smoke ink on the front surface of the hairline layer 92 becomes brighter as the distance from the pointer shaft 21 increases. The silver metallic color gradually changes to a dark silver metallic color, and further changes from a dark silver metallic color to a normal gray color having no metallic tone, and the reflectivity also moves away from the pointer shaft 21 in accordance with this color tone change. A gradation layer 95 that gradually decreases is formed, and the other configuration is the same as that of the second embodiment.

  The gradation layer 95 is formed so that the color tone and the reflectance gradually change as described above by a halftone printing method, and is provided so that the gradation can be visually recognized even when the light source 4 is turned off. However, it is desirable that the formation position is provided on the background plate 9 outside the position where the light emitting design is formed by turning on the light source 4 so as not to overlap the light emitting design as much as possible. And the gradation of the light emitting design formed in accordance with the intensity of the irradiation light from the reflective layer 114 may partially overlap with each other as long as the gradation of the light emitting design is not hindered. .

  With this configuration, when the light source 4 is turned off, a gradation that changes from a silver metallic color to a gray color is visually recognized by the gradation layer 95, and when the light source 4 is turned on, a color of a chromatic color based on blue by the light emitting design. Gradation is visually recognized, thereby making it possible to visually recognize the gradation regardless of whether the light source 4 is turned on or off, and further allowing two types of gradations with different color tones and forming methods to be visually recognized according to the turning on and off of the light source 4. Realizing a changeable appearance.

  The colors of the light sources 3 and 4, the reflective layer 114, and the gradation layer 95 can be selected from any colors according to the illumination color or display color to be expressed.

The front view of the instrument apparatus by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. Sectional drawing along the AA line in FIG. Sectional drawing which shows the principal part of FIG. 2 together with a reflectance and a luminance characteristic. Sectional drawing of the principal part of the meter apparatus by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the principal part of the meter apparatus by the 3rd Embodiment of this invention with the reflectance characteristic of a background board.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Circuit board 2 Drive apparatus 3, 4 Light source 5 Frame body 6 Light guide for pointer 7 Pointer 8 Light guide member 9 Background plate 10 Spacer member 11 Plate-shaped light guide 12 Shield member 13 Look-back member 14 Transparent member 15 Frame member 16 Transmission member 21 Pointer shaft 51 Partition wall 61 Cylindrical portion 71 Instruction portion 72 Pointer cover 91 Substrate 92 Hairline layer (diffuse reflection layer)
93 Blue smoke layer 94 Metal ink layer 95 Gradation layer 111 Design part 112 Through hole 113 Light guide reflection surface 114 Reflection layer (reflection means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 115 1st colored layer 116 2nd colored layer 117 3rd colored layer 121 Concealing plate 122 Edge member 123 Reflecting plate FU Fuel meter LS Light emitting surface SP Speed meter TA Engine tachometer TE Water temperature meter

Claims (7)

A plate-shaped light guide provided with a design part;
A background plate disposed behind the plate-like light guide with a space therebetween,
A light source for illuminating the design portion by making light incident on the plate-shaped light guide and irradiating light on the front surface of the background plate through reflecting means provided on the back side of the plate-shaped light guide;
The reflection means is configured such that the color tone and the light reflectance gradually change along the plate surface direction of the plate-like light guide,
The background plate is formed with a light emitting surface whose light emission luminance gradually changes along the plate surface direction by irradiation light irradiated from the light source to the front surface of the background plate through the reflecting means. Instrument device characterized by. 2. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting surface comprises a diffuse reflection surface that reflects light from the reflection means in a diffuse state. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein a transmission member that changes a color of light of the light source is provided between the light source and the background plate. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein a light guide member that guides light of the light source to the plate light guide and the reflection means is provided between the light source and the plate light guide. . The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein a shielding member that covers at least the reflecting means is disposed in front of the plate-like light guide. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein the plate light guide and the background plate are illuminated by a common light source. The plate-shaped light guide has a through-hole, and a pointer that rotates about the front side of the plate-shaped light guide through the through-hole is connected to a pointer shaft that rotates the pointer. The design portion includes an indicator portion arranged along the turning trajectory of the pointer, and the reflection means is formed so as to surround the through hole at a position closer to the pointer shaft than the design portion. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein the measuring device is disposed at a position closer to the pointer shaft than the design portion, and the reflecting means reflects light from the light source in a radiation direction centered on the pointer shaft. .

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