JP4862776B2 - Display device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement of a display device.

  As a display device using light, for example, a scuff plate that emits light is used in a vehicle. Patent Document 1 discloses a scuff plate that uses a light source and a light guide to emit and display the upper surface of the light guide. In this scuff plate, two types of light guides (a linear light guide and a plate light guide) are used. And after converting the light of a light source into linear light with a linear light guide, this linear light enters from the side entrance part of a plate light guide, and light is taken out from the upper surface of a plate light guide. To display characters. In addition, in order to prevent the leakage of light from the side surface of the plate-like light guide, the light reaching the side surface is reflected to the inside of the light guide.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-145082

In the scuff plate of Patent Document 1, a large amount of light reaches the vicinity of the light incident area (ie, the side surface) of the plate-shaped light guide. Further, in the region located on the side opposite to the light incident region (that is, the side surface on the opposite side), the light density is increased due to the reflection effect by the side surface. As a result, the amount of light emitted in the vicinity of both side surfaces of the upper surface light emitting portion is large, and the amount of light emitted in the intermediate region is small. As a result, luminance unevenness occurs, and characters, symbols, etc. cannot be displayed with uniform luminance.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a display device that displays characters, symbols, and the like with a simple configuration and uniform luminance.

In order to solve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration. That is,
A surface-mount first LED lamp having a white package;
A surface-mount type second LED lamp having a white package;
A first linear light guide having a first end face incident part facing the first LED lamp, a second end face incident part facing the second LED lamp, and a side radiation part. Body,
A plate-like second light guide disposed adjacent to the first light guide, the side light incident part along which the light emitted from the side radiation part is incident along the side radiation part; and A second light guide having a side reflecting portion on the side opposite to the side incident portion and having a white layer formed thereon, and an upper surface light emitting portion;
A color conversion layer formed on the lower surface of the second light guide;
A white layer formed on the color conversion layer, and a dial disposed on the upper surface side of the second light guide,
It is a display apparatus characterized by comprising.

In the above configuration, the light of the first LED lamp enters the first light guide from the first end face incident part, and the light of the second LED lamp enters the first light guide from the second end face incident part. The incident light is guided through the first light guide body and is emitted from the side surface radiation portion. The emitted light is incident on the second light guide from the side incident portion of the second light guide along the side radiation portion. Incident light is guided through the second light guide and subjected to color conversion by the color conversion layer on the lower surface, then reflected and diffused by the white layer, and taken out from the upper surface light emitting unit. As a result, the top light emitting portion emits light, and characters, symbols, and the like are displayed via the dial. Occurrence of luminance unevenness is prevented by the light diffusing action of the white layer.
Since the first LED lamp has a white package, the light reflected by the first end face incident part when reflected on the first light guide is reflected to the first end face incident part side. Thereby, the light incidence efficiency of the first LED lamp is improved. In addition, the white package of the first LED lamp also has an effect of reflecting light leaking from the first end face incident portion and generating light in the first end face direction. Thereby, the utilization factor of light improves. The second LED lamp also exhibits the same effect as the first LED lamp. As described above, the light incident efficiency and utilization rate are improved by the reflection action of the white package of the first LED lamp and the second LED lamp, and characters and the like can be displayed with high luminance.

  In the display device of the present invention, the surface-mounted first LED lamp and the second LED lamp are used as the light source. LED lamps have the advantages of being small, low power consumption, and long life. In particular, the surface-mounted LED lamp can be made smaller. By using an LED lamp as a light source, there is an advantage that the amount of heat generated by the light source is reduced and the thermal influence on surrounding members is small. The emission color of the LED lamp is not particularly limited, but is preferably white or a color similar to that of the color conversion layer.

  The first LED lamp and the second LED lamp have a white package (reflector). A 1st LED lamp is arrange | positioned facing the 1st end surface incident part of the below-mentioned 1st light guide. The first LED lamp and the second LED lamp are preferably arranged so that their optical axes are substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the linear first light guide. This is because light efficiently enters the first light guide.

  In the present invention, two types of light guides are used. That is, a linear first light guide and a plate-like second light guide are used. The material of the first light guide is not particularly limited as long as it has a light guiding property, and polycarbonate resin, epoxy resin, glass, or the like can be adopted in addition to acrylic resin. The shape of the first light guide is not particularly limited as long as it is linear, and can be determined in consideration of the shape of the display area, required luminance, and the like. Typically, it has a straight shape and a vertical cross section of a square, a rectangle, a trapezoid, a circle, an ellipse, or the like. The first light guide has a first end face incident part facing the first LED lamp, a second end face incident part facing the second LED lamp, and a side radiation part. The shape of the first end surface incident part is usually a flat surface, but if the concave surface is curved inside the first light guide, the light incidence rate of the first LED lamp is improved. Further, the first LED lamp may be included in the end portion of the first light guide to substantially eliminate the gap between the first end surface incident portion and the first LED lamp. Thereby, the incidence rate of light is further improved. The shape of the first end face incident part is preferably the same as the shape of the first LED lamp on the light emission side in plan view. If it does in this way, while the light of a 1st LED lamp will inject into a 1st end surface incident part efficiently, a 1st LED lamp will reflect incident surface reflected light and incident surface emitted light efficiently, and a 1st light guide will be reflected. Can be incident. The second end face incident part can also have the same configuration as the first end face incident part.

  The first light guide has a side radiation portion that emits light that guides the first light guide. A light diffusion process is performed on the side surface opposite to the side radiation portion. This is because the light that guides the first light guide is positively radiated from the side surface radiating portion while actively proceeding to the side surface radiating portion side. Since the 1st light guide is linear, the light radiated | emitted from the side radiation | emission part turns into linear light. The light diffusing treatment applied to the side opposite to the side radiating portion is not particularly limited, forming grooves such as pits and slits, processing the surface such as embossing and blasting, sticking diffuse reflective tape, It can be performed by forming a diffuse reflection layer such as application of a diffuse reflective paint. In addition, it is preferable to perform a light-diffusion process so that a spreading | diffusion effect | action may increase gradually toward the center of a 1st light guide from the both end surfaces of a 1st light guide. For example, a plurality of slits can be provided so that the slits gradually become deeper from both end faces of the first light guide toward the center of the first light guide.

  The second light guide is disposed adjacent to the first light guide. The second light guide is plate-shaped. The material of the second light guide can be the same as that of the first light guide. The shape of the second light guide can be determined according to the shape of the display area. The thickness of the second light guide can be determined according to the installation space. The second light guide has a side incident part, a side reflection part, and a top light emitting part. The side incident part is along the side radiation part of the first light guide. Thereby, the light radiated from the side radiation portion of the first light guide is efficiently irradiated to the side incidence portion of the second light guide and enters the second light guide. The side reflection part is located on the opposite side of the side incident part. A white layer is formed on the side reflecting portion. The method for forming the white layer on the side reflecting portion is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to employ hot stamp printing or screen printing of a white paint. This is because the reflecting surface can be formed without using a separate reflecting member, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the assembling workability can be improved. The thickness of the white layer is not particularly limited as long as the white layer does not transmit the light reaching the side reflecting portion and can be diffusely reflected to the inside of the second light guide.

  A color conversion layer is provided on the lower surface of the second light guide (the surface on the side opposite to the upper surface light emitting portion). The color of the light guided through the second light guide on the lower surface side of the second light guide is converted by the color conversion layer. The color conversion layer may be a layer containing a fluorescent material that is excited by light from the first LED lamp and the second LED lamp (hereinafter also referred to as “light from the light source”). Or it can also be set as the filter layer containing the material which absorbs the one part wavelength of the light of a light source. The color conversion layer converts light from the light source into light having a color different from the original color.

  A white layer is provided on the color conversion layer. The white layer can be formed in the same manner as the white layer provided on the side reflecting portion of the second light guide. The color conversion layer and the white layer may be provided only on a part of the lower surface of the second light guide in consideration of the shape of the display region, as well as the entire lower surface of the second light guide.

  The guided light is emitted from the upper surface light emitting part of the second light guide. A dial is provided on the upper light emitting part side of the second light guide. The dial has a character region that forms a desired character, symbol, or geometric figure and a non-character region other than that. The light transmittance of the character area is different from that of the non-character area. Thereby, the character etc. which were formed in the character area by the light emitted from the upper surface light emission part of the 2nd light guide are displayed. For example, the dial can be formed by punching a part of a plate-like body formed of a non-translucent material into a shape such as a letter.

  The first light guide and the second light guide may be colored and transparent as well as colorless and transparent. In addition, a light diffusing agent may be included in the first light guide and the second light guide to positively diffuse the light in the first light guide and the second light guide.

A half mirror layer is preferably provided between the second light guide and the dial. The half mirror layer refers to a layer having two contradictory functions such as reflection and transmission. The half mirror layer is formed of, for example, a metal layer (Al (aluminum), Ag (silver), Au (gold), or an alloy thereof) having a predetermined thickness. The half mirror layer can also be formed by sequentially laminating a metal layer and a protective layer made of a light-transmitting resin or the like. An example of a method for forming such a half mirror layer will be described. First, a metal layer made of an Al thin film is formed. The thickness of the metal layer is such that a half mirror effect can be obtained. For example, the metal layer can have a thickness such that the light transmittance is about 15-20%. Subsequently, a transparent resin such as an epoxy resin is formed on the metal layer by printing, coating or the like to form a protective layer. The configuration of the half mirror layer and the forming method are not limited to this, and any known one can be employed. An ink layer can also be provided on the surface of the protective layer or between the metal layer and the protective layer. The ink layer can be formed, for example, by printing, coating, or the like with a color ink such as yellow. Of course, the half mirror layer is provided over the entire upper surface light emitting portion of the second light guide, and only the half mirror layer is provided on a part of the lower surface of the second light guide in consideration of the shape of the display area (characters, etc.). It may be provided.
Examples of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the vicinity of a boarding opening of a vehicle including a scuff plate 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The scuff plate 1 is provided on the garnish at the entrance. A top transparent view of the scuff plate 1 is shown in FIG. 2, and a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2 is shown in FIG. The scuff plate 1 includes a design cover 2, a case 3, a first light guide 10, a second light guide 20, a first light source unit 30, and a second light source unit 40. The first light guide 10 is a linear light guide made of acrylic and has a length in the longitudinal direction of about 300 mm. The shapes of the first end face 11 (incident part with respect to the first light source unit 30) and the second end face 12 (incident part with respect to the second light source unit 40) of the first light guide 10 are substantially square with sides of about 4 mm. The side surface 13 of the first light guide body 10 (the surface above the paper surface in FIG. 2) is subjected to graining on the region excluding the region near both end surfaces (within about 10 mm from both end surfaces). The embossing is formed so that the density gradually increases from both ends toward the center (the embossing becomes deeper).
The first light source unit 30 is disposed at a position facing the first end surface 11 of the first light guide 10, and the second light source unit 40 is disposed at a position facing the second end surface 12. The first light source unit 30 includes an LED lamp 31, and the second light source unit 40 includes an LED lamp 41. The first light source unit 30 and the second light source unit 40 are preferably arranged so as to be close to the first end surface 11 and the second end surface 12, respectively. This is because the loss of incident light is reduced. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the LED lamp 31. The LED lamp 31 is a surface mount type (SMD type) white LED lamp. The LED lamp 31 is generally composed of an LED chip 311, a white package (reflector) 312, and a sealing member 313. The white package 312 has a cup-shaped portion, and the LED chip 311 is disposed at the bottom of the cup-shaped portion. The cup-shaped portion is sealed with a sealing member 313 together with the LED chip 311. The LED lamp 41 has the same configuration as the LED lamp 31. The planar shape of the light emission side of the LED lamp 31 and the LED 41 is a substantially square with a side of about 4 mm, and is substantially the same as the first end face 11 and the second end face 12, respectively. The first light source unit 30 receives power supply through the wire harness 32, and the second light source unit 40 receives power supply through the wire harness 42. A groove is formed in the case 2 along a side surface 23 of the second light guide plate 20 described later, and the wire harness 42 is disposed in this groove and is routed to the vicinity of the first light source unit 30.

As shown in FIG. 2, the second light guide 20 is a plate-like light guide, and has a length of about 250 mm, a width of about 25 mm, and a thickness of about 4 mm. The second light guide 20 is generally rectangular in plan view, and has a first side surface 21, a second side surface 22, and a third side surface 23. The second light guide 20 is arranged so that the substantially entire surface of the first side surface 21 (side surface incident portion in the second light guide 20) is in contact with the side surface 14 of the first light guide 10. Note that the second light guide 20 has a shorter length in the longitudinal direction than the first light guide 10, and regions near both end faces of the first light guide 10 do not contact the second light guide 20. As shown in FIG. 3, the third side surface 23 is inclined about 7 ° inward from the upper surface 24 to the lower surface 25 of the second light guide 20. Similarly, the second side surface 22 is also inclined about 7 ° inward from the upper surface 24 toward the lower surface 25. On the other hand, the first side surface 21 is inclined about 1 ° inward from the upper surface 24 toward the lower surface 25. A white layer obtained by screen printing white ink is formed on substantially the entire third side surface 23 of the second light guide 20.
The second light guide 20 is extracted, and a top view thereof is shown in FIG. 5A and a bottom view thereof is shown in FIG. 5B. As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, an Al half mirror layer is formed by hot stamp printing in a rectangular region 24a that is approximately 3 mm inside the outer edge of the upper surface 24. On the other hand, a color conversion layer screen-printed with light-transmitting blue ink is formed in a rectangular area 25a about 3 mm inside the outer edge of the lower surface 25, and a white layer screen-printed with white ink is formed thereon. . A broken line 61 indicates a shape in which a character area 62 described later is projected.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a dial plate 60 is disposed on the upper surface 24 side of the second light guide plate 20. The dial plate 60 is made of aluminum and is a rectangular thin plate having a thickness of about 0.5 mm. The dial 60 covers the upper surfaces of the first light guide 10 and the second light guide 20. The dial 60 includes a character region 62 formed by etching into a predetermined character (alphabetic “ABCDEF” in this embodiment) by etching. The character region 62 is positioned so that the characters are arranged in a straight line in the longitudinal direction in the intermediate region of the upper surface 24, as indicated by a broken line 61 in FIG. 5A. A colorless and transparent PC sheet 70 is provided on the dial 60.

  Next, the light emission mode of the scuff plate 1 at night or in a dark place will be described. First, electric power is supplied from the vehicle body to the first light source unit 30 and the second light source unit 40 via the wire harnesses 32 and 42, and the LED lamp 31 and the LED lamp 41 are turned on. The light from the LED lamp 31 enters the first light guide 10 from the first end face 11 of the first light guide 10, and the light from the LED lamp 41 enters the first light guide from the second end face 12 of the first light guide 10. Incident on the body 10. Incident light is diffused and reflected by the side surface 13 while being guided through the first light guide 10 and emitted from the side surface 14. The emitted light enters the second light guide 20 from the first side surface 21 of the adjacent second light guide 20. The light incident on the second light guide 20 is guided in the second light guide 20 and converted into blue light by the color conversion layer on the lower surface 25 of the second light guide 20. Thereafter, the light is diffusely reflected by the white layer on the lower surface 25 and the white layer on the third side surface 23 and is emitted from the upper surface 24. The light emitted from the upper surface 24 causes the character area 62 of the dial 60 to emit light and display characters.

  Since the white layer is formed on the third side surface 23 of the second light guide 20, the received light is reflected and diffused to the inside of the second light guide 20. Thereby, an increase in light density in the vicinity of the third side surface 23 is suppressed, and the light emission luminance of the upper surface 24 is made uniform. As a result, the characters are displayed with light emission with uniform brightness.

  Since the LED lamp 31 and the LED lamp 41 have a white package, the light reflected by the first end face 11 and the second end face 12 at the time of incidence is reflected to the first end face 11 side and the second end face 12 side to generate the first package. 1 The light guide 10 is made incident. Thereby, the incident efficiency of the light of the LED lamp 31 and the LED lamp 41 is improved. Further, the white package of the LED lamp 31 and the LED lamp 41 reflects light leaking from the first end surface 11 and the second end surface 12 so as to be incident on the first light guide 10 from the first end surface 11 and the second end surface 12 again. . Thereby, the utilization factor of light improves.

  The side surface 13 of the first light guide 10 is textured so that the density gradually increases from both ends toward the center. Normally, the amount of incident light from both end faces 11 and 12 decreases from the both ends of the first light guide 10 toward the center, but the light is emitted from the side face 14 of the first light guide 10 by the above-described embossing. The amount of light to be made is made uniform over the entire area. That is, uniformed linear light is emitted from the side surface 14 of the first light guide 10. Thereby, the brightness | luminance of the emitted light in the upper surface 24 of the 2nd light guide 20 is equalize | homogenized. By the way, since the area near both end faces of the first light guide 10 is close to the first light source unit 30 or the second light source unit 40, the amount of light reaching the area is larger than that of other areas. Therefore, if this light is positively used, the luminance in the vicinity of both end surfaces becomes excessively high, and the uniform luminance of the upper surface 24 is prevented. However, since the region near the both end faces of the first light guide 10 is not in contact with the second light guide 20, the light emitted from the side surfaces 14 near the both end faces of the first light guide 10 is emitted from the upper surface 24. Not used. As a result, the brightness of the emitted light on the upper surface 24 can be further uniformed.

  The second side surface 22 and the third side surface 23 of the second light guide 20 are inclined inward. This suppresses the generation of light traveling toward the lower surface 25 in the vicinity of the second side surface 22 and the third side surface 23. As a result, the vicinity of the second side surface 22 and the third side surface 23 is prevented from emitting light with high luminance. The first side surface 21 is also inclined 1 ° inward. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of the light which advances to the lower surface 25 side is suppressed, maintaining high incident efficiency, and it is prevented that the 1st side surface 21 vicinity light-emits with high brightness | luminance. As a result, the brightness of the emitted light on the upper surface 24 can be made more uniform.

  The color conversion layer on the lower surface 25 is formed of a light-transmitting blue ink, but is not limited to this, and the color conversion layer may be formed by using a desired light-transmitting colored ink or fluorescent ink. Thereby, the light of an LED lamp can be converted into a desired color. Thus, since a desired luminescent color can be obtained without changing the LED lamp by changing the configuration of the color conversion layer, the LED lamp can be shared, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

On the other hand, the scuff plate 1 is observed as follows in the daytime or in the daylight. External light passes through the PC sheet and irradiates the dial 60. The Al dial 60 reflects external light. As a result, the region other than the character region 62 of the dial 60 is observed in a metallic style. On the other hand, since the character region 62 is formed by cutting out the dial plate 60, external light irradiates the upper surface 24 of the second light guide 20 through the character region 62. A half mirror layer is formed on the upper surface 24 and reflects external light. As a result, the character region 62 is also observed by the half mirror layer in a metallic tone peculiar to the half mirror. As described above, since the entire upper surface 24 side of the scuff plate 1 is observed in a metallic tone, a sense of unity is achieved, and the character region 62 is observed in a metallic tone unique to the half mirror. Thereby, high designability is produced. The half mirror layer was formed on the upper surface 24 by hot stamp printing. Thereby, the half mirror layer of uniform thickness can be formed simply. Although the half mirror layer is formed in the rectangular region 24a on the upper surface 24, the present invention is not limited to this, and the half mirror layer may be formed in a region where the character region indicated by the broken line 61 in FIG. 5A is projected. This also produces the same effect as when formed over the entire rectangular area 24a.
In the present embodiment, the dial plate 60 including the character region 62 that is partially cut out in a character shape is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a dial plate that is cut out from the portion other than the character region may be used.

  The present invention is used in an apparatus including various display units. For example, the present invention can be applied to scuff plates, display boards for various logos, and the like.

The present invention is not limited to the description of the embodiments and examples of the invention described above. Various modifications may be included in the present invention as long as those skilled in the art can easily conceive without departing from the description of the scope of claims.
The contents of papers, published patent gazettes, patent gazettes, and the like specified in this specification are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle including a scuff plate 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a top transparent view of the scuff plate 1. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the LED lamp 31. FIG. 5A is a top view of the second light guide 20 and FIG. 5B is a bottom view of the second light guide 20.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Scuff plate 2 Design cover 3 Case 10 1st light guide 11 1st end surface 12 2nd end surface 14 Side surface 20 2nd light guide 21 1st side surface 22 2nd side surface 23 3rd side surface 24 Upper surface 24a Rectangular area 25 Lower surface 30 1st 1 light source unit 40 2nd light source unit 31 and 41 LED lamp 60 Dial 62 Character area 70 PC sheet

Claims (8)

A surface-mount first LED lamp having a white package;
A surface-mount type second LED lamp having a white package;
A first linear light guide having a first end face incident part facing the first LED lamp, a second end face incident part facing the second LED lamp, and a side radiation part. Body,
A plate-like second light guide disposed adjacent to the first light guide, the side light incident part along which the light emitted from the side radiation part is incident along the side radiation part; and A second light guide having a side reflecting portion on the side opposite to the side incident portion and having a white layer formed thereon, and an upper surface light emitting portion;
A color conversion layer formed on the lower surface of the second light guide;
A white layer formed on the color conversion layer, and a dial disposed on the upper surface side of the second light guide,
A display device comprising:   The shape of the first end face incident part is the same as the plan view shape on the light emission side of the first LED lamp, and the shape of the second end face incident part is the same as the plan view shape on the light emission side of the second LED lamp. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the display device is a display device.   The display device according to claim 1, wherein a half mirror layer is provided between the second light guide and the dial. The display device according to claim 3 , wherein the half mirror layer is formed by performing hot stamp printing on the upper surface light emitting portion of the second light guide.   2. The light emitted from a region other than a region near both ends of the side radiation portion of the first light guide is incident on the side light incident portion of the second light guide. The display apparatus as described in any one of -4.   The said side surface reflection part of a said 2nd light guide is inclined inward toward the lower surface from the upper surface of the said 2nd light guide, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Display device.   The said side surface incident part of a said 2nd light guide is inclined inward toward the lower surface from the upper surface of the said 2nd light guide, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Display device.   Of the side surfaces of the second light guide, side surfaces excluding the side surface reflection part and the side surface incident part are inclined inward from the upper surface to the lower surface of the second light guide body. The display apparatus as described in any one of Claims 1-7.

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