JPH08189843A - Dial illuminating structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To keep the illumination balance over the whole area of a display part by furnishing a dimming hole in a reflex layer-providing part around the display part farther than light source of a diffusion plate, allowing the reflex layer in the dinning hole to reflect light directly to a reflecting board, and concentrating the light on the display part farther than the light source. CONSTITUTION: When a dial 1 is illuminated at night, the light of an illumination bulb 6 passes that area of a diffusion plate 4 which is not covered with a reflex layer 5 and penetrates the display parts 3, 3' to illuminate them. In the display part 3' farther than the bulb 6, the light incident on a dimming hole 7 is reflected by the reflex layer 5 and proceeds to a reflecting board 8, and the light reflected thereby passes the diffusion plate 4 in the part of the display 3' and penetrates the display part 3'. In the display part 3' remote from the bulb 6, consequently, the light of the bulb 6 increases the brightness with repetitive reflections of the reflex layer 5 and reflecting board 8 so that a high brightness illumination is obtained. This generates a good illumination balance, and unevenness in the illumination can be eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dial illuminating structure for instruments mounted on vehicles such as automobiles, and in particular, illuminating light from the back of the dial and transmitting the illuminating light to the display portion of the dial. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a transillumination type dial plate illumination structure for illuminating by making it illuminate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a transillumination type dial plate illumination structure, light from a light source is diffused by a diffuser plate and transmitted to a display portion of the dial plate to improve light utilization efficiency and improve lighting effect. It is known to have been made.

This is, for example, as shown in FIG.
The display part 11 of 0 is made light-transmissive, the part 12 other than the display part is made light-impermeable, the diffusion plate 13 is superposed on the back surface of the dial 10, and the part 12 other than the display part of the dial 10 is arranged. And a diffusing plate 13 are provided between the diffusing plate 13 and the reflecting layer 14 so that the light from the light source 15 arranged on the back side of the diffusing plate 13 is reflected by
The light that has not been transmitted through the display section 11 is diffused by the display section 11 and is transmitted to the display section 11 for illumination.
Reflection and diffusion are repeated by the reflection layer 14 and the diffusion plate 13 until 1 is transmitted, whereby the utilization efficiency of light is increased and the illumination effect is improved.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Diffuser 13
Even in the illumination structure using the display unit 1 close to the light source 15.
Since the illumination is bright in No. 1 and the illumination is dark in the display unit 11 far from the light source 15, in order to eliminate this uneven illumination, as shown in FIG.
By providing a thin portion 13b to change the wall thickness or performing a die drawing process 13c, the illumination balance of the entire display portion 11 is improved.

However, if the thickness of the diffusing plate 13 is changed, the cost of the mold for the diffusing plate 13 is increased, and if the diffusing plate 13 is subjected to the die drawing process 13c, the die drawing process equipment is required. Therefore, both of them are disadvantageous in terms of cost.

Further, when the thickness of the diffuser plate 13 is changed, the color tone of the light transmitted through the display portion 11 is changed between the thick wall portion 13a and the thin wall portion 13b of the diffuser plate 13 and the illumination is performed. Even if the balance is achieved, the chromaticity balance is lost, which is a disadvantage.

Therefore, the present invention is intended to provide a dial illumination structure in which the illumination balance can be maintained without disturbing the chromaticity balance of the display section and uneven illumination is not caused.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dial having a light-transmitting display portion and light-impervious portions other than the display portion, and a diffusion plate superposed on the back surface of the dial. Plate, a reflective layer provided between the part other than the display part of the dial and the diffusion plate, a light source arranged on the back of the diffusion plate and transmitting light to a nearby display part through the diffusion plate, farther from the light source A dimming hole formed in the diffuser plate at the position where the reflective layer around the display section is arranged, and a reflector plate arranged at the back of the diffuser plate for guiding the light of the light source reflected by the reflective layer to the diffuser plate and the dimming hole are provided. It is characterized by having done.

A second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the reflecting plate according to the first aspect is formed on a flat surface.

A third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a portion of the reflecting plate of the first aspect, which is farther from the light source than the light source, is raised on the diffusion plate side.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the raised portion of the reflecting plate according to the third aspect is raised as the distance from the light source increases.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a light control hole is formed in the reflection layer arrangement portion of the diffuser plate, which is farther from the light source than the light source, and the light from the light source is directly reflected by the reflection layer in the light control hole. By concentrating the light on the display part far from the light source to increase the brightness, it is possible to realize high brightness illumination without using an expensive discharge tube such as a cold cathode ray tube as the light source to reduce the cost, and close to the light source. The color balance is stabilized between the display unit and the display unit far from the display unit through the diffuser plate having the same thickness, and the illumination balance can be secured in the entire display unit.

According to the second aspect, since the reflecting plate is formed on a flat surface, the reflecting plate can be formed extremely easily and easily.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the portion of the reflection plate corresponding to the display portion farther from the light source is raised to the side of the diffuser plate, the reflected light path from the light source to the display portion far from the light source is shortened and the display portion of the far display portion is shortened. The amount of transmitted light is increased to illuminate strongly, and the illumination balance in the entire area of the display section can be more appropriately adjusted.

According to the fourth aspect, since the raised portion of the reflection plate is made higher as the distance from the light source increases,
An appropriate reflected light path according to the distance from the light source of the display unit can be obtained, and the illumination balance can be made uniform throughout the display unit.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a dial, which is made to be light-impermeable by black-printing the surface of the portion 2 other than the display portion, and the display portions 3 and 3'are left unprinted for high brightness. Is obtained as the light transmittance.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a diffusion plate made of a transparent or translucent resin panel which is superposed on the back surface of the dial 1 and 5 denotes the diffusion plate 4.
And a reflecting layer provided between the dial plate 1 and a portion 2 other than the display portion of the dial 1, and 6 indicates a plurality of lighting bulbs which constitute a light source arranged on the back of the diffusing plate 4, and the light of these lighting bulbs 6 is diffused. The light is transmitted through the plate 4 to the nearby display unit 3.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a light control hole formed in a portion of the diffuser plate 4 farther than the illumination bulb 6 around the display portion 3'where the reflective layer 5 is disposed, and 8 denotes a reflector plate disposed at the back of the diffuser plate 4.

In the present embodiment, the reflection layer 5 is formed by white printing on the back surface of the portion 2 other than the display portion of the dial 1, and the flat bottom surface of the case where the illumination bulb 6 is installed is the reflection plate 8.

According to the structure of the above embodiment, at night illumination of the dial plate 1, the light of the illumination valve 6 is transmitted through the diffuser plate 4 as it is in the portion of the diffuser plate 4 which is not covered with the reflective layer 5, and the letters are displayed. The display portions 3, 3'of the plate 1 are transmitted to illuminate these display portions 3, 3 '.

Here, the display section 3'remote from the illumination bulb 6
In the portion of, the light incident on the light control hole 7 is reflected by the reflective layer 5 in the light control hole 7 toward the reflection plate 8, and the light reflected by the reflection plate 8 is diffused in the display portion 3 '. It penetrates the plate 4 and the display part 3 '.

As a result, in the display portion 3'where the illumination tends to be darker from the illumination bulb 6, the light of the illumination bulb 6 is concentrated by the repeated reflection between the reflection layer 5 and the reflection plate 8 in the dimming hole 7. The brightness is increased, and thus high-brightness illumination can be realized without using an expensive discharge tube such as a cold cathode ray tube as a light source, and the cost can be reduced.
The light of the illumination bulb 6 passes through the diffusion plate 4 having the same thickness and is stable without losing the color balance, and the illumination balance is good, and uneven illumination can be eliminated.

In the above embodiment, the reflecting plate 8 is formed in a flat surface. However, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, a portion of the reflecting plate 8 which is farther from the illumination bulb 6 and corresponds to the display portion 3'is provided with the diffusing plate 4. If the central portion 8a that is parallel to the diffuser plate 4 and the inclined portion 8b that curves from the central portion 8a toward the lighting bulb 6 side are formed by raising it to the side, the central portion 8a is diffused as shown by the solid line. 4, the optical path of the reflected light from the reflection layer 5 in the light control hole 7 to the display portion 3 ′ becomes shorter, and the distance between the central portion 8a and the diffusion plate 4 becomes narrower, the amount of transmitted light to the display portion 3 becomes smaller. Can be increased.

Moreover, in the case shown in FIG. 3, the inclined portion 8b reflects the light of the illumination bulb 6 toward the reflection layer 5 in the light control hole 7, and the reflection layer 5 reflects the light as shown by the dotted line. The light is reflected toward the central portion 8a, and the central portion 8a reflects the reflected light toward the display portion 3'remote from the illumination bulb 6, and in combination with the reflected light shown by the solid line, the illumination bulb Since the amount of transmitted light from the display unit 3 ′ far from the display unit 6 can be significantly increased, the illumination of the display unit 3 ′ whose illumination tends to be darker far from the illumination bulb 6 can be made stronger, and the entire area of the display unit 3 can be increased. The lighting balance can be further improved.

Further, if the height of the reflection plate 5 is increased as the distance from the illumination bulb 6 is increased as shown in FIG. 4, the reflection of the raised central portion 8a from the illumination bulb 6 is appropriately reflected. Since the optical path is obtained, it is possible to illuminate the display unit 3 near the illumination bulb 6 and the display unit 3 ′ far from the illumination bulb 6 with uniform brightness.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the dimming hole is formed in the reflection layer arrangement portion around the display portion of the diffuser plate farther from the light source, and the light of the light source is reflected directly to the reflecting plate by the reflection layer in the dimming hole. By concentrating the light on the display part far from the light source to increase the brightness, it is possible to realize high-brightness illumination without using an expensive discharge tube such as a cold cathode ray tube as the light source, and to reduce the cost. The display part near the light source and the display part far from the light source are stable through the diffusion plate of the same thickness without losing the color balance.
It is possible to balance the illumination in the entire area of the display unit, and to further improve the sense of quality and reliability.

According to the second aspect, since the reflecting plate is formed on a flat surface, the reflecting plate can be easily formed with an extremely simple structure.

According to the third aspect, since the portion of the reflecting plate corresponding to the display portion farther from the light source is raised to the side of the diffuser plate, the reflected light path from the light source to the farther display portion is shortened, and the display portion of the far display portion is shortened. It is possible to increase the amount of transmitted light and illuminate strongly, and more appropriately balance the illumination over the entire display portion.

According to the fourth aspect, the raised portion of the reflection plate is made higher as the distance from the light source increases.
An appropriate reflected light path can be obtained according to the distance from the light source of the display unit, and the illumination balance can be made uniform throughout the display unit.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an essential part of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the structure of a conventional dial illumination.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Dial 2 Part other than Display 3 Display 4 Diffuser 5 Reflective Layer 6 Lighting Bulb (Light Source) 7 Light Control Hole 8 Reflector

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A dial having a light-transmitting display part and light-impermeable parts other than the display part, a diffusion plate superposed on the back surface of the dial, and a part other than the display part of the dial. The diffuser plate is provided between the diffuser plate, the light source that is disposed on the back of the diffuser plate and transmits light to the nearby display unit through the diffuser plate, and the reflective layer around the display unit that is farther from the light source. A dial illumination structure comprising: a light control hole formed in the diffusing plate; and a reflection plate for guiding the light of a light source, which is arranged on the back of the diffusion plate and reflected by a reflection layer, to the diffusion plate and the light control hole. 2. A dial illumination structure according to claim 1, wherein the reflector is formed on a flat surface. 3. A portion of the reflection plate corresponding to the display portion farther from the light source is raised on the side of the diffusion plate.
Illuminated dial structure described. 4. The dial plate illumination structure according to claim 3, wherein the raised portion of the reflection plate is made higher as the distance from the light source increases.