JPH09217322A - Reflective body having recurrently reflective ability - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a reflective body having an excellent visibility not only at night, but also when the headlight of a vehicle is not turned on. SOLUTION: In a reflective body 1, a prism 11 is formed on the rear surface thereof, and the incident light entering from the front is recurrently reflected in the light source direction by the prism 11. By forming the reflective body 1 by a translucent synthetic resin including a fluorecent paint, the light ray L2 such as the direct sunlight reflected from the reflective boy 1 and the diffused light becomes fluorescent and is recurrently reflected and emitted by the rear prism 11, so that the reflective body 1 is brightly shined by this emitted fluorescence to enhance the visibility, thus it can be clearly visualized even in the time the headlight or the like of a vehicle is not turned on.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a retroreflective body which is suitable for use as a visual guide mark installed on a side edge of a road or a median strip.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, in order to encourage a driver to drive safely at night, a line-of-sight guide sign indicating the alignment or center line of the road is installed at the side edge of the road or the median strip. This line-of-sight guide generally has a reflector inserted in the front opening of the frame, so that the lower part of the frame is usually attached by being fitted to the upper end of a pillar attached to a guard rail or the like. Has been done. The reflector is generally formed from a translucent synthetic resin whose rear surface is prism-processed, and when light from a vehicle headlight or the like is incident on the reflector, the reflector is retroreflected to direct the light source direction. The reflected light is emitted to the driver and is visually recognized by the driver.

However, the conventional reflector is generally visible only when light from a vehicle headlight or the like is incident thereon as described above, but it is also visible at night when the vehicle headlight is turned on. However, visibility is often poor and often requires line-of-sight guidance, especially in the evening when there is little sunshine and it is not necessary to turn on the vehicle's headlights, and visibility is poor. No induction could be performed.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above problems and provides a retroreflective reflector having excellent visibility not only at night but also when the vehicle headlights are not turned on. is there.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of intensive studies for achieving the above object, the present inventors have found that if a translucent synthetic resin forming a reflector contains a fluorescent dye, it is incident on the reflector. Direct light or diffused light from the sun is emitted as fluorescent light that is retroreflected by the prism on the back surface and emitted, and the emitted fluorescent light shines brightly on the reflector to improve the visibility of vehicle headlights. The inventors have learned that they can be visually recognized well even when they are not lit, and have completed the present invention.

That is, the retroreflector according to the present invention is a reflector having a rear surface processed with a prism so that light incident from the front surface is retroreflected by the prism toward the light source. The reflector is formed of a translucent synthetic resin containing a fluorescent dye.

According to the present invention, since the transparent synthetic resin forming the reflector contains the fluorescent dye, the direct light or diffused light from the sun incident on the reflector becomes fluorescent and becomes the back surface. The prism is retroreflected and emitted, and the emitted fluorescence brightens the reflector to improve the visibility, and the visibility is excellent even when the vehicle headlight or the like is not turned on.

As the translucent synthetic resin, polymethylmethacryl, methacrylic resin, polycarbonate, polystyrene, acrylic resin, etc. are generally used, and as the fluorescent dye, fluorescein, rhodamine, eosin, pyramidine, naphthalimide, Perylene and the like are generally used, but naphthalimide and perylene are preferably used. The reason is that these fluorescent dyes have excellent weather resistance and thermal stability, and also have strong fluorescent power and high chroma,
Moreover, it is excellent in miscibility with the transparent synthetic resin. The reflector is formed in a state in which the translucent synthetic resin mixed with the fluorescent dye as described above is molded by an injection molding machine or the like and the back surface is subjected to prism processing. The shape of the prism is not particularly limited as long as the light incident from the front surface is retroreflected in the direction of the light source, but generally the three surfaces are orthogonal to each other in order to widen the reflection angle. It is said to be a three-sided cut.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention. A reflector 1 is made of a translucent synthetic resin containing a fluorescent dye, and a prism 11 is processed on its back surface. . Then, the light L1 such as a headlight incident on the reflector 1 from the front surface
Is retroreflected by the prism 11 and emitted toward the light source, and the light L2 such as direct light or diffused light from the sun that is incident on the reflector 1 becomes fluorescent light and is reflected by the prism 1 on the back surface.
It is retroreflected at 1 and emitted similarly.

Next, FIG. 2 is a front view showing an embodiment of the line-of-sight guide A to which the reflector 1 is attached, and 2 is a frame, which is generally a metal such as aluminum alloy or steel, or polyethylene. ABS resin, FRP, polycarbonate,
It is obtained by molding a synthetic resin such as AAS. The lower portion of the frame body 2 is usually fitted and attached to the upper end of a column 3 which is usually attached to a guard rail or the like, but it may be attached directly to the guard rail or the like.

The reflector 1 according to the present invention inserted into the front opening of the frame 2 is made of a transparent synthetic resin containing a fluorescent dye as shown in FIG. It has been processed. A rotary blade (not shown) having a wiper slidably contacting the reflector 1 is rotatably attached to the front surface of the reflector 1 and attached to the reflector 1 by rotating the rotary blade by wind force. You may make it wipe off the dirt.

Next, FIG. 3 shows the amount of solar radiation in a reflector according to the present invention formed of a translucent synthetic resin containing a fluorescent dye and a conventional reflector formed only of the translucent synthetic resin. It is a graph showing the results of comparison and measurement of the relation of brightness, in which the horizontal axis represents the amount of sunlight (unit: lux) irradiated on the reflector, and the vertical axis represents the surface of each reflector at that amount of sunlight. The brightness (unit candela cd / m ² ) is shown. As the fluorescent dye, perylene (Lumogen F Orange 240 manufactured by BASF Japan Ltd.)
Was used, and polycarbonate was used as the translucent synthetic resin.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the reflector according to the present invention has a surface which is three times or more brighter than that of the conventional reflector, and has excellent visibility even in the case of little sunlight such as evening and snowfall. It is shown that

Since the reflector 1 according to the present invention has excellent visibility as described above, it is suitable for use as a line of sight indicator or the like installed on a side edge of a road or a median strip. It may be attached to a snow pole or the like for guiding the line of sight, or may be attached to a rear wheel of a bicycle or the like, and its use is not particularly limited.

[0015]

According to the present invention, since the transparent synthetic resin forming the reflector contains the fluorescent dye, the direct light or diffused light from the sun incident on the reflector becomes fluorescent. It is retroreflected by the prism on the back surface and emitted, and the emitted fluorescence causes the reflector to shine brighter and visibility is improved.
Good visibility is obtained even when the headlights of the vehicle are not lit. Therefore, it is preferably used for a line-of-sight guide for the purpose of line-of-sight guidance, such as a line-of-sight guide installed on a side edge of a road or a median strip.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing an embodiment of a line-of-sight guide to which the reflector of the present invention is attached.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of solar radiation and the brightness of a reflector of the present invention and a conventional reflector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Reflector of the present invention 11 Prism 2 Frame 3 Support post L1 Light such as headlight L2 Light such as direct light from the sun or diffused light A Line of sight indicator

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A reflector having a rear surface processed with a prism so that light incident from the front surface is retroreflected toward the light source by the prism, wherein the reflector contains a fluorescent dye. Retroreflector characterized by being formed of synthetic resin 2. The retroreflective reflector according to claim 1, wherein the fluorescent dye is made of naphthalimide or perylene.