JPH075019U - Instrument dial structure - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] In an instrument that illuminates the dial from the back side, the purpose is to increase the amount of light transmitted through the design part that is illuminated without changing the light source to prevent the occurrence of color unevenness. . [Structure] The back surface of the dial 22 is illuminated with light from a light source 14 provided inside, and the light passing through the light-transmitting design portion 23 provided on the dial 22 to the front side allows the design portion 23 of the dial 22 to be illuminated. A light reflecting layer 11 is formed on the surface side of a transparent plate body 25 that constitutes a dial 22 in a pointer type instrument that illuminates brightly, and a light shielding ground is formed on the surface side of the reflecting layer 11 except for a design portion. Formed by stacking the color printing layers 12,
Further, on the back surface side of the transparent plate 25, the design color printing layer 13 for night illumination is formed in a portion facing the design portion 23 to form the dial 22. As a result, it is possible to increase the amount of light that passes through the design portion 23 using the same light source as in the related art, and it is possible to easily adjust the brightness balance and suppress the occurrence of color unevenness, while design color printing for night illumination. The layer 13 can be significantly saved.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a dial structure of an instrument, and in particular, a light source is provided on the back surface of a dial used for a combination meter of an automobile, etc., and a design formed on the dial is illuminated by light from this light source. The present invention relates to a dial structure in an instrument.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Conventionally, in the case of analog type meters that display a state quantity with a pointer, for example, analog type meters such as a speedometer and an engine tachometer that are provided in a combination meter of an automobile, a driver or other visual observer The state quantity is determined by reading the scale on the dial located at the tip.

Therefore, in the conventional pointer-type instrument, a dial design is formed on the dial plate, and an internal meter unit is attached to the back side of the dial design and a pointer is attached to the front side to display the dial design with the pointer. There is. On the other hand, in such a pointer-type instrument, a vehicle equipped with the instrument may drive at night, so it is necessary to illuminate the dial and pointer to improve visibility at night. When illuminating the dial, there are one that illuminates the dial from the front side and one that illuminates the dial from the back side.

FIG. 2 (a) is a front view of a combination meter 20 provided with an instrument 21 for illuminating a dial from the back side among the conventional pointer type instruments for illuminating such a dial. b) shows the cross-sectional structure of the portion A in (a).

As shown in FIG. 2 (a), a pointer-type measuring instrument 21 attached to the combination meter 20 has a dial 23 on which a design 23 such as a scale or numbers for speed display is printed. These designs 23 are indicated by the hands 24. In addition, a light source is generally provided on the back side of the dial 22 to improve visibility at night, and when the driver turns on the lighting switch, the dial 22 and the pointer 24 are shielded from the light source. It is configured to be illuminated by light.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the dial 22 in the pointer-type instrument 21 as described above has a ground color 2 except the design 23 on the surface of the base plate 25 made of a transparent member. 6 is printed, and the display color 27, which is the illumination color at night, is printed on the entire back surface. In this example, the design 23 is printed in white, which is the daytime display color. The ground color 26 is, for example, black plain printing that does not transmit light, and the display color 27 is color printing such as orange, blue, and green.

In the dial 22 configured as described above, when the light source provided on the back side of the dial 22 is turned on, the light from the light source passes through only the display color 27 and the design 23 and the characters are displayed. It escapes to the front surface side of the plate 22 and emits light of the display color 27.

[0008]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in such a conventional instrument 21, the light source generally uses a bulb (light bulb), and the bulb emits light radially by its filament, so that the distance from the bulb 30 is as shown in FIG. A dark part D is formed on the dial 22 which is far away, or a shadow S of an internal machine (not shown) provided in the central part of the dial 22 is formed on the dial 22 depending on the angle, and night illumination of the design portion At times, there was a problem in that there was a difference in brightness and color unevenness was likely to occur.

In general, when examining the lighting of a measuring instrument, the smaller the difference between the lightness and darkness on the dial, the easier the examination, and it becomes possible to manufacture a high-quality measuring instrument. For this reason, first, the amount of light in the dark part is increased as the first stage, but it is easy to reduce the amount of light in the bright part, but it is extremely difficult to brighten the dark part. It has also been attempted to arrange a light guide plate made of transparent acrylic resin between the dial of the instrument and the light source to effectively use the light from the light source to increase the amount of light. It was not possible to supplement the amount of light that was given.

Therefore, the present invention is an instrument for illuminating a dial from the back side. In addition to direct light from a conventional light source for illuminating the dial, the reflected light of the light emitted from the light source illuminates the dial. By allowing the light from the light source to reach the design part efficiently without changing the light source, the amount of light transmitted to the front side of the dial can be increased and the design part It is an object of the present invention to provide a dial structure of an instrument that can prevent color unevenness from occurring during nighttime illumination.

[0011]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The dial structure of the instrument of the present invention which achieves the above-mentioned object is provided with an internal unit and a light source between the case back plate and the dial, and at least at night, the back surface of the dial is illuminated by the light from this light source. However, the dial structure in the pointer-type instrument in which the design part is visible by the light passing through from the translucent design part provided on the dial to the front side, A light reflection layer is formed on the surface side of the plate, and a light-shielding background color printing layer is formed on the surface side of the reflection layer except the design portion, and further, On the back surface side, a design color print layer for night illumination is formed in a portion facing the design portion.

[0012]

[Action]

 According to the dial structure of the instrument of the present invention, the light emitted from the light source is reflected by the light reflection layer formed on the front side of the dial, and the reflected light is reflected by the case on the back side of the instrument on the dial side. The light that passes through the translucent design part provided on the dial from the back side to the front side is the direct light from the light source plus the reflected light reflected by the reflective layer and the case. Therefore, the utilization efficiency of the light from the light source is increased, and color unevenness is less likely to occur at night illumination of the design portion. Further, since the design color printing layer for night illumination is formed only in the portion facing the design portion, this can be significantly reduced and the cost can be reduced. On the other hand, since the design color printing layer does not prevent the light from entering the reflecting layer, the luminance balance can be further improved.

[0013]

Embodiments Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 (a) shows the construction of an embodiment of the dial plate structure of the instrument of the present invention. The characters of the pointer type instrument 21 attached to the combination meter 20 shown in FIG. 2 (a). The section A of the plate 22 is shown in section. Therefore, the same components as those in FIG. 2 will be described with the same reference numerals.

In the structure of the dial 22 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1A, the light reflection layer 11 is formed over the entire surface of the transparent plate 25 made of a transparent member. On the surface side of the light reflection layer 11, a light-blocking background color printing layer 12 is laminated except for the design portion 23 that is the light transmission portion P. On the other hand, on the back surface side of the transparent plate 25, a design color printing layer 13 for night illumination, which is an illumination color at night, is partially printed on a portion facing the portion of the design portion 23.

The light reflection layer 11 is formed, for example, by performing white printing on the entire surface of the transparent plate 25 of the dial 22. This utilizes the scale of the dial 22 and the white printing used for displaying characters in the daytime. The light-blocking background color printing layer 12 formed on the light reflecting layer 11 or on the front surface side is, for example, a black print that blocks light. On the other hand, the design color printing layer 13 for night illumination provided on the back surface of the transparent plate 25 has a light transmitting portion P having the design portion 23 so that the light reflecting layer 11 can be seen through the transparent plate 25 from the back surface side. Only the minimum necessary area is printed, and the display color is orange, blue, green, etc. When forming the light reflection layer 11 described above, the design portion 23 may not be masked and printed, or another light-transmitting color may be applied to the design portion 23.

In the dial plate 22 of the embodiment configured as described above, the light emitted from the light source is transmitted through the transparent transparent plate member 25 and then the ground color printing layer as shown in FIG. 1 (a). It is reflected by the light reflection layer 11 formed on the inner side of 12.

Next, a further description will be given with reference to FIG. In the figure, 14 is a light source and 15 is an instrument case.

The light emitted from the light source 14 is radial, and a part of the light is the direct light T. The design color printing layer 13, the transparent plate 25, and the light transmitting portion P, that is, the reflecting layer 11 in the design portion 23. Through to the front side of the dial 22. Further, of the light emitted from the light source 14, the light that hits the light reflection layer 11 formed inside the light-shielding ground color printing layer 12 is reflected by the instrument case 15, and further the light reflection layer. Reflected by 11. Then, a part of the reflected light K passes through the design color printing layer 13 for night illumination, the transparent plate 25, and the light transmitting portion P, that is, the reflecting layer 11 in the design portion 23, and the surface of the dial 22. Get out to the side.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1A, the instrument using the dial 22 in which the light reflection layer 11 and the light-shielding ground color printing layer 12 are laminated on the surface side of the transparent plate 25. Then, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), the amount of light passing through the light transmitting portion P is increased and the brightness of the design portion 23 is greatly increased as compared with the instrument using the dial 22 without the light reflecting layer 11. Can be raised. As a result, the brightness of the dark portion D seen in the conventional instrument is improved by the reflected light K, so that the brightness balance of the entire dial plate is surely improved at the time of illumination at night. Then, by improving the brightness, the dimming time of the illumination balance of the dial 22 can be shortened.

In the embodiment described above, the example in which the light reflecting layer 11 is white, which is the display color of the design portion 23 in the daytime, has been described. However, if silver is used as the light reflecting layer 11, The reflection efficiency is improved and the lighting balance is further improved. This silver-colored light reflection layer 11 can be formed by hot stamping, silver vapor deposition printing, or the like. In this case, it is preferable not to print on the light transmitting portion P having the design portion 23 or to print with another transparent color.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the instrument for illuminating the dial from the back side, in addition to the direct light from the conventional light source for illuminating the dial, the light emitted from the light source is used. Since the reflected light from the light passes through the design part that illuminates the dial, the light from the light source can reach the design part efficiently without changing the light source, and the amount of light transmitted to the front side of the dial. The unevenness in color is less likely to occur when the design part is illuminated at night, and the brightness is easily balanced. Moreover, since the design color printing layer for night illumination is formed only in the portion facing the design portion, this can be largely saved and the cost can be reduced. On the other hand, since the design color printing layer does not hinder the incidence of light on the reflecting layer, the luminance balance can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 (a) is a partial sectional view of a single dial plate showing the dial structure of an instrument of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 (b) is an explanatory view showing the function of the dial plate of (a). .

FIG. 2 (a) is a front view of a combination meter provided with an instrument for illuminating the dial from the back side, and FIG. 2 (b) is a cross-sectional view of the dial of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a problem when the dial of FIG. 2 is illuminated.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Light Reflection Layer 12 Light-Shielding Ground Color Printing Layer 13 Design Color Printing Layer 14 Light Source 15 Instrument Case 20 Combination Meter 21 Pointer Instrument 22 Dial Plate 23 Design Part 24 Pointer 25 Transparent Plate K Reflected Light P Light Transmission Part T direct light

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An internal unit and a light source are provided between a case back plate and a dial, and the back surface of the dial is illuminated with light from the light source at least at night, and the translucency provided on the dial. Is a dial structure in a pointer-type instrument in which the design portion can be visually recognized by light passing through from the design portion to the surface side, and a light reflection layer is formed on the surface side of the transparent plate body that constitutes the dial. At the same time, the light-shielding ground color printing layer is formed by laminating on the surface side of the reflective layer except the design portion,
A dial plate structure of an instrument, characterized in that a design color printing layer for night illumination is formed on a portion of the back surface of the transparent plate facing the design portion.