JP7274099B2 - instrumentation - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to an instrument device mounted on a vehicle or the like.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an instrument device is known in which a transmissive member is arranged in front of a dial. The transmissive member is illuminated by light from a light source arranged on the back side of the dial, thereby enhancing the design of the instrument device.

JP 2016-50791 A

Since the transmissive member is a member having transparency, depending on the viewing direction of the user, there is a risk that the internal structure (for example, the color of the dial), which should not be visible to the user, may be visible.

The present disclosure has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a measuring instrument device having excellent design.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the instrument device of the present disclosure includes a dial plate having a design portion and a shielding portion other than the design portion on the front surface, a cover covering the shielding portion on the front side, a transparent and a standing wall extending from at least a part of the peripheral edge of the transmitting surface toward the dial side and having a wall surface subjected to low transmittance treatment for reducing the transmittance of transmitted light. and a transmissive member disposed on the front side of the shielding portion so that the transmissive surface is exposed from the cover.

The instrument device of the present disclosure can have excellent design.

1 is a front view of an instrument device that is an embodiment of an instrument device of the present disclosure; FIG. Sectional drawing which follows the II-II line of FIG. Enlarged view of the transmission ring.

An embodiment of the instrument device of the present disclosure will be described based on the accompanying drawings. The instrument device of the present disclosure is mounted, for example, on vehicles such as automobiles and motorcycles, ships, agricultural machinery, and construction machinery.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a meter device 1 that is an embodiment of the meter device of the present disclosure.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II--II of FIG.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the transmission ring 60. FIG.

In the following description, "front (front)", "back (back)", "upper", "lower", "right", and "left" are defined as "Fr." Re.", "To.", "Bo.", "R", and "L".

The instrument device 1 has a speedometer 2 . The speedometer 2 is a pointer-type instrument that displays the traveling speed of the vehicle. The instrument device 1 mainly has pointers 10 , a dial 20 , a circuit board 30 , a case 40 , a cover 50 and a transparent ring 60 .

The pointer 10 rotates on a plane parallel to the front surface 20a of the dial 20 to indicate the scale of the dial 20 corresponding to the running speed of the vehicle.

The dial 20 is supported on the middle case 41 in front of the circuit board 30 and behind the hands 10 . The dial 20 has a design portion 21 and a shield portion 22 on the front surface 20a. The design portion 21 is an area that is visually recognized by the user, and is an area that conveys information to the user by forming the design 29 . The shielding portion 22 is an area that is shielded by the cover 50 and is not visually recognized by the user.

The dial 20 has a substrate 25 , a design layer 26 , a diffusion layer 27 and a colored layer 28 . The base material 25 is a plate-like member made of, for example, a transparent (light-transmitting) resin (for example, polycarbonate resin).

The design layer 26 is a printed layer formed on at least the front surface and the rear surface (front surface or rear surface) of the base material 25 corresponding to the design portion 21 and printed with black light-blocking ink. The design layer 26 has a design 29 such as scales, numerals, and letters formed in the shape of blank characters. The design 29 is illuminated from the rear of the dial 20 with light from a design light source (not shown) on the circuit board 30, and is lit and displayed by the light passing therethrough.

The diffusion layer 27 corresponds to the shielding part 22 and is formed on the front surface and the back surface (front surface or rear surface) of the base material 25, which overlaps the transmission ring 60 at least when viewed from the front surface 20a (front view), and is printed with ink that diffuses light. It is a printed layer that has been processed. The diffusion layer 27 is illuminated from behind the dial 20 by the light from the ring light source 31 on the circuit board 30 and transmits this light. At this time, the diffusion layer 27 diffuses and transmits the light of the ring light source 31 that emits point light like surface light emission.

The colored layer 28 corresponds to the shielding part 22, and the front surface and back surface (front or back surface) of the base material 25 corresponding to the shielding part 22 that may be visually recognized through the transmission ring 60 (the transmission surface 61 and the standing wall 65). This is a printed layer formed on the back surface) and printed in a color similar to the exterior color of the cover 50 . A similar color is, for example, silver.

The circuit board 30 mainly includes a pointer driving section, a design light source, a ring light source 31, and a control section including a pointer driving section, light source drivers, and the like.

A pointer driving unit (not shown) is connected to the pointer 10 via a pointer shaft, and rotates the pointer 10 in accordance with the input travel speed of the vehicle.

The design light source and the ring light source 31 (simply referred to as “light source” when not distinguished) are provided on the front surface 30 a of the circuit board 30 . The light source is, for example, a top-view type LED (Light Emitting Diode) (chip LED). Design light sources are provided according to the positions and number of designs 29 . A required number of ring light sources 31 are provided behind each of the transmission rings 60 arranged on the left and right sides of the speedometer 2 . The circuit board 30 is a part of the front surface 30a, which is mostly green, and has a silk screen printing layer around the ring light source 31, which is similar in color to the inner case 41, such as white. This printed layer acts so that the light from the ring light source 31 that is transmitted through the transmission ring 60 is inconspicuous on the front surface 30a.

The control unit has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and executes predetermined arithmetic processing according to a program written in the ROM, for example. The control unit acquires various vehicle information from various sensors and the like via an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) of the vehicle, for example. The control unit drives the pointer driving unit and the light source based on the acquired information.

The case 40 has a middle case 41 , a lower case 45 and an upper case 46 .

The middle case 41 is made of light-shielding resin (for example, white ABS resin). Inside the lower case 45 , the middle case 41 supports the dial 20 and the circuit board 30 from behind and from the front. The middle case 41 has a partition wall 43 that surrounds the ring light source 31 and forms a light guide path 42 . The partition wall 43 is a cylindrical wall extending forward from the rear to separate the illumination area of the ring light source 31 , and the light from the ring light source 31 passes through the light guide path 42 from the rear to the front.

The lower case 45 is made of light-shielding resin (for example, white polypropylene). The lower case 45 accommodates the dial 20 and the circuit board 30 therein.

The upper case 46 is made of transparent resin (for example, PMMA (Polymethyl methacrylate)). The upper case 46 forms the outer shape of the instrument device 1 by being fitted with the lower case 45 .

The cover 50 is made of light-shielding resin (for example, black ABS resin). A front surface 50a and a rear surface 50b of the cover 50 are painted or plated in silver. The cover 50 is arranged to face the front surface 20a of the dial 20 and covers the shielding portion 22 in front of the dial 20 (on the front surface 20a side). Moreover, the cover 50 exposes the design portion 21 .

The cover 50 has two ring support structures arranged symmetrically in the left-right direction with the speedometer 2 interposed therebetween. The ring support structure supports (arranges) the transmission surface 61 of the transmission ring 60 exposed from the cover 50 in front of the shielding portion 22 (on the front surface 20a side of the dial 20). The ring support structure has openings 52, support surfaces 53, and support pins.

The opening 52 is formed laterally outward with respect to the speedometer 2 . As shown in FIG. 2 , the opening surface formed by the opening 52 has an inclination that increases from the inside to the outside in the left-right, up-down direction plane of the instrument device 1 in a cross-sectional view in the front-rear direction. The support surface 53 is formed on the back surface 50b at the periphery of the opening 52. As shown in FIG. The support surface 53 is in contact with the front peripheral surface 64 of the transmission ring 60 and supports the transmission ring 60 in the front-rear direction. Support pins (not shown) pass through the support holes 68 of the transmission ring 60 and support the transmission ring 60 in the left, right, up and down directions.

The transmission ring 60 (transmission member) is made of transparent synthetic resin (for example, transparent PMMA). The transmission ring 60 is illuminated by the light from the ring light source 31 that has passed through the diffusion layer 27 of the dial 20 and lights up. The transmissive ring 60 displays information to the user according to the color by changing the lighting color. For example, the transparent ring 60 can display the fuel level by being illuminated using blue when the fuel level is normal and red when the fuel level is low.

The transmission ring 60 has a transmission surface 61 , a peripheral surface 64 , standing walls 65 and support holes 68 .

The transmission surface 61 is a surface exposed through the opening 52 of the cover 50 . The transmission surface 61 is subjected to flat knurling (processing to form a triangular cross-section extending in one direction) as a light diffusion treatment from the viewpoint of design and diffusion of light transmitted through the transmission surface 61. be. The transmission surface 61 is a lighting surface that is lit by transmitting light from the ring light source 31 . As with the opening surface of the opening 52 , the transmission surface 61 has an inclination that rises from the inside toward the outside of the left-right, up-down direction surface of the instrument device 1 in a cross-sectional view in the front-rear direction.

The peripheral edge surface 64 is a surface provided on the peripheral edge of the transmission surface 61 , which is one step lower than the transmission surface 61 . The peripheral surface 64 is supported by the support surface 53 of the cover 50 . The peripheral surface 64 has an inner edge 62 on the side of the speedometer 2 and an outer edge 63 opposite to the inner edge 62 .

The standing wall 65 extends in the front-rear direction from the outer edge 63 (peripheral edge of the transmission surface 61) toward the front surface 20a of the dial 20. As shown in FIG. The standing wall 65 inclines the transmission surface 61 by forming a height with respect to the dial 20 on the outer edge 63 side.

Both sides or one side of the standing wall 65 is subjected to a low transmittance treatment. The low-transmittance treatment is a treatment for reducing (diffusing, reflecting, or attenuating) the transmittance of light passing through the standing wall 65 , and is the same flat knurling as the decorative treatment applied to the transmitting surface 61 .

Here, when the user visually recognizes the transmissive surface 61, the front surface 20a of the dial 20 behind the standing wall 65 and the rear surface 50b of the cover 50 may be unintentionally viewed by the user depending on the angle and the brightness of the surroundings. There is a risk that it will be lost. This degrades the design of the transmission ring 60 and, in turn, degrades the marketability of the instrument device 1 .

On the other hand, the instrument device 1 according to the present embodiment has a standing wall 65 that is subjected to flat knurling as a low transmittance process in order to reduce the transmittance of transmitted light. Thereby, the standing wall 65 makes it difficult to visually recognize the internal structure such as the dial 20 and the cover 50 . Therefore, when the user visually recognizes the transmission ring 60, the light diffused by the transmission surface 61 (the light of the ring light source 31) is mainly visually recognized, and the unnecessary light of the internal structure is transmitted through the transmission surface 61 and the standing wall 65. can be reduced to be seen through the

Further, the same processing as the flat knurling processing applied to the transmission surface 61 is applied to the standing wall 65 as a low transmittance treatment. As a result, the instrument device 1 can create uniformity in the light that is transmitted through the transmission surface 61, and can also improve the design.

Furthermore, by providing the colored layer 28 on the dial 20 of the instrument device 1, even if the front face 20a of the dial 20 behind the standing wall 65 is visually recognized by the user, the user does not feel uncomfortable.

Therefore, the instrument device 1 in this embodiment can have excellent design.

While several embodiments of the invention have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

For example, in the instrument device 1 , the standing wall 65 extends only from the outer edge 63 . It is good if it extends to the side. For example, when the transmission surface 61 does not have an inclination, or when the inner edge 62 side also has a height with respect to the dial 20, even if the standing wall 65 extends from both the outer edge 63 and the inner edge 62, good.

The low transmittance treatment applied to the standing wall and the light diffusion treatment applied to the transmitting surface are not limited to the above embodiments, and may be texturing, knurling (including flat knurling), dimple processing, or diamond cut processing. A treatment for roughening the wall surface such as is also possible. Also, different types of treatments may be applied to the standing wall and the transmission surface.

1 Instrument device 2 Speedometer 10 Needle 20 Dial 20a Front face 21 Design part 22 Shielding part 25 Base material 26 Design layer 27 Diffusion layer 28 Colored layer 29 Design 30 Circuit board 30a Front face 31 Ring light source 40 Case 41 Middle case 42 Light guide path 43 partition wall 45 lower case 46 upper case 50 cover 50a front surface 50b rear surface 52 opening 53 support surface 60 transmission ring (transmission member)
61 Transmission surface 62 Inner edge 63 Outer edge 64 Peripheral edge surface 65 Standing wall 68 Support hole

Claims (6)

A dial plate having a design portion and a shielding portion other than the design portion on the front surface;
a cover that covers the shielding portion on the front side;
and a standing wall extending from at least a part of the peripheral edge of the transmission surface toward the dial and having a wall surface subjected to low-transmittance treatment for reducing the transmittance of transmitted light. and a transmission member disposed on the front side of the shielding part so that the transmission surface is exposed from the cover. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein the low transmittance treatment is texturing, knurling, dimple processing, or diamond cutting. 2. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein said dial has a colored layer printed in a color similar to that of said cover in a region of said shielding portion visible through said transmissive surface and said standing wall. 2. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein said cover is printed in a color similar to that of the front surface of said cover in a region visible through said transmissive surface and said standing wall. further comprising a light source arranged on the rear surface side of the dial, which is the surface opposite to the front surface;
2. The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission surface is a lighting surface that is subjected to light diffusion treatment and is lit by transmitting light from the light source. 6. The instrumentation device of claim 5, wherein said light diffusion treatment is the same type of treatment as said low transmittance treatment.

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