JPH10317332A - Luminous road sign - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a luminous road sign with increased brightness of light emitted to the outside from its light emitting part. SOLUTION: A plurality of luminous units 5, in each of which a light-emitting diode 3 is placed opposite to the focal position of a convex lens 4 so that the light La of the light emitting diode is emitted while being refracted by the convex lens 4 into an almost parallel beam Lb, are aligned to form a light- emitting part 2, with the parallel beams Lb from the luminous units 5 being emitted to the outside from the light emitting part 2. Since the light emitted from the light emitting part 2 is parallel beams Lb, it has higher brightness than conventional diffused light, and since the plurality of luminous units 5 are aligned and the parallel beams Lb matching their number are emitted from the light emitting part 2, the brightness as a whole is greatly enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a self-luminous road sign used as a delineator, a road stud, a lane separation sign, a signal light, a sign board, etc. installed on a road.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various road signs are provided on roads to encourage drivers and pedestrians of running vehicles to promote traffic safety or to indicate driving directions. Conventionally, most of such road signs have a retroreflective sheet that is brightly shined by retroreflecting the light when irradiated with light from a headlight or the like in order to enhance visibility at night, and is attached to the surface. It is. However, since the retroreflective sheet does not shine unless light is irradiated, especially in places where traffic is intense, such as places where nighttime visibility needs to be further improved, light emitting diodes such as light emitting diodes and light bulbs are arranged. A self-luminous road sign is provided which emits light from a part to be visually recognized by a driver or a pedestrian of a vehicle.

[0003]

As described above, in the self-luminous road sign, the light emitted from the light-emitting part to the outside is visually recognized by the driver or the pedestrian of the vehicle. If the value is low, the visibility decreases. In particular, since the light from the self-luminous body is diffused and emitted radially, if the light emission luminance is low, the visibility from a distance is extremely reduced. Therefore, in order to increase the light emission luminance, various measures have been taken such as increasing the light emission luminance by flowing a large amount of current through the self-luminous body, or increasing the size of the self-luminous body. However, when a large amount of current is applied to the self-luminous body, a long load is applied to the self-luminous body, so that the life is shortened. Further, since a large amount of current is consumed, a commercial power supply is required and the solar cell cannot be used. Therefore, there is a problem that the installation place is limited. On the other hand, if the self-luminous body is made large, there is a problem that the road sign itself becomes large and the cost increases.

[0004] On the other hand, there is a device using a laser beam to increase the light emission luminance, but this requires a transmitter and a scanning device, and depending on the output, there is a danger that the retina is adversely affected.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-luminous road sign in which the brightness of light emitted from a light emitting unit to the outside is increased.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following arrangement. That is, the self-luminous road sign according to the present invention includes a plurality of self-luminous units in which light-emitting diodes are disposed opposite to each other at the focal position of the convex lens, and the light of the light-emitting diodes is refracted into substantially parallel light by the convex lens and emitted. The light emitting units are formed by arranging the light emitting units, and the parallel light from each light emitting unit is emitted to the outside from the light emitting units.

According to the present invention, since the light emitted from the light emitting section is a parallel light, the brightness is higher than that of the conventional diffused light, and a plurality of self-luminous units are arranged. Is emitted from the light emitting portion, and the overall luminance is extremely high.

Accordingly, in the present invention, since the parallel light having high brightness is emitted, if the parallel light is emitted toward the driver of the vehicle running on the road, the driver of the vehicle emits light. You can see the parallel light even when approaching the part,
It is clearly visible from a distance.

The self-light-emitting units forming the light-emitting portion are arranged in a predetermined pattern, and parallel light is emitted toward a road surface or a separated signboard, and the parallel light draws a sign on the road surface or the signboard. By doing so, for example, in a region where the conventional sign drawn on the road surface is buried by snow, it is possible to draw a line-shaped sign indicating the road boundary on the snow with parallel light emitted toward the snow. .

In the present invention, the convex lens for refracting the light of the light emitting diode into parallel light may be a spherical lens,
In the case of a spherical lens, as the distance from the optical axis of the lens increases, it becomes more difficult to obtain uniform parallel light due to aberration. Therefore, use an aspheric lens with a spherical surface on the focal side and an aspheric or conical surface on the opposite side to eliminate aberration. Is preferred.

Further, in the present invention, the self-luminous unit comprises:
An outer cylinder provided with a convex lens, and an inner cylinder to which a light-emitting diode is attached, and the inner cylinder is slidably inserted into the outer cylinder with the optical axes of the convex lens and the light-emitting diode aligned with each other, In addition, if the light-emitting diode is arranged to be opposed to the focal position of the convex lens by sliding the inner cylinder with respect to the outer cylinder, in each self-light-emitting unit, only the inner cylinder is slid with respect to the outer cylinder. Thus, it is possible to easily arrange the light-emitting diodes at the focal position of the convex lens.

In the above case, a guide slit and a ridge fitted into the guide slit are formed on the wall surfaces of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder in the longitudinal direction, and the ridge is engaged with the bottom of the guide slit. If the light emitting diode is arranged to be opposed to the focal position of the convex lens by sliding the inner cylindrical body with respect to the outer cylindrical body until the protrusion is engaged with the bottom of the guide slit, By simply sliding the inner cylindrical body with respect to the cylindrical body, the light emitting diode can be easily arranged to face the focal position of the convex lens, and the light emitting diode is positioned in advance at the focal position of the convex lens. Since the self-light-emitting units may be arranged in the light-emitting section, the manufacture becomes easy.

[0013]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention used as a delineator, (a) is a front view, (b) is a side view, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 shows an outer cylinder of the self-luminous unit of FIG. 3,
(A) is a side view, (B) is a plan view, FIG. 5 shows an inner cylinder of the self-luminous unit of FIG. 3, (A) is a side view, and (B) is a plan view.

In FIGS. 1 to 5, reference numeral 1 denotes a support standing upright on a road side edge or the like, and reference numeral 2 denotes a light emitting portion provided on an upper portion of the support 1, which is provided on a vertical surface to prevent snow accumulation. On the other hand, it is inclined obliquely downward so that the attached snow falls easily. The light-emitting unit 2 includes a self-light-emitting unit 5 in which a light-emitting diode 3 is disposed at a focal position of a convex lens 4 so that light La of the light-emitting diode 3 is refracted by the convex lens 4 into substantially parallel light Lb and emitted. A plurality of parallel light beams Lb from the self-light-emitting units 5 are formed.
Is emitted from the light emitting unit 2 to the driver of the vehicle running on the road.

The self-light-emitting unit 5 will be described in detail. The self-light-emitting unit 5 is formed of an outer cylinder 51 provided with a convex lens 4 at the bottom and an inner cylinder 52 provided with the light-emitting diode 3. At the same time, the inner cylinder 52 is slidably inserted into the outer cylinder 51 with the optical axes of the convex lens 4 and the light emitting diode 3 aligned. Further, a guide slit 53 is cut out in the longitudinal direction on the wall surface of the outer cylinder body 51, and a ridge 54 is formed on the wall surface of the inner cylinder body 52 so as to be fitted into the guide slit 53. The inner cylindrical body 52 is slid backward with respect to the outer cylindrical body 51 until the ridge 54 is locked to the bottom of the guide slit 53, so that the light emitting diode 3 is positioned at the focal position of the convex lens 4.
Can be arranged to face each other. Then, in a state where the light emitting diode 3 is opposed to the focal position of the convex lens 4, the light La of the light emitting diode 3 is refracted by the convex lens 4 into almost parallel light Lb and emitted to the outside.

The convex lens 4 provided on the outer cylinder 51
Is provided so that its optical axis coincides with the central axis of the outer cylinder 51, and may be formed integrally with the outer cylinder 51, or may be formed separately from the outer cylinder 51. 4 may be attached. The light emitting diode 3 is inserted and fixed in a mounting hole 55 formed at the center of the bottom so that the optical axis coincides with the central axis of the inner cylinder 52.

The convex lens 4 for refracting the light La of the light emitting diode 3 into parallel light Lb may be a spherical lens. However, in a spherical lens, the further away from the optical axis of the lens, the more difficult it becomes to obtain uniform parallel light due to aberration. , Light emitting diode 3
It is preferable to use an aspheric lens in which aberration is eliminated by setting the focal side where the lens is disposed to be spherical and the opposite side to be aspheric or conical. The light-emitting diode 3 is generally a high-brightness light-emitting diode, and the power source for emitting light may be a commercial power source, or may include a solar cell and a power storage device.

In this embodiment, the outer cylinder 51 and the inner cylinder 52 are used.
Are arranged in the light emitting section 2 in a state where the light emitting diodes 3 are arranged opposite to the focal position of the convex lens 4, and the parallel light L from each self light emitting unit 5 is arranged.
b is emitted from the light emitting unit 2 to the driver of the vehicle running on the road. When a plurality of self-light-emitting units 5 are arranged in the light-emitting unit 2, the arrangement pattern is not particularly limited.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the above-described embodiment, the parallel light Lb from the self-light-emitting unit 5 is emitted from the light-emitting unit 2 toward the driver of the vehicle traveling on the road. In this embodiment, the parallel light Lb from the self-light-emitting unit 5 is emitted. It is emitted toward the road surface 6.

That is, the self-light-emitting units 5 forming the light-emitting unit 2 are arranged in a predetermined pattern, and the parallel light Lb is
, And the collection of the parallel light Lb causes the road surface 6 to appropriately draw a sign 7 such as a character, a figure, or a line. By doing so, for example, in a region where the conventional sign drawn on the road surface is buried by snow, a parallel sign Lb emitted toward the snow makes a line-shaped sign indicating a road boundary drawn on the snow. Therefore, it can be suitably used for a road sign for snowfall. Since the light emitted from each light emitting unit 5 is not diffused light but parallel light Lb, the sign 7 thus drawn on the road surface 6 becomes clear.

As shown in FIG. 7, it is also possible to emit the parallel light Lb toward the sign plate 8 spaced apart on the road, and draw the sign 7 on the sign plate 8 with the parallel light Lb. In this case, the sign 7 of the sign plate 8 to be drawn can be changed from the ground by appropriately changing the arrangement of the self-luminous units 5.

[0022]

According to the present invention, since the light emitted from the light emitting portion is parallel light, the brightness is higher than that of the conventional diffused light, and a plurality of self light emitting units are arranged. Since the parallel light is emitted from the light emitting section, the overall luminance is extremely high.

Therefore, in the present invention, since the parallel light having high luminance is emitted, if the parallel light is emitted toward the driver of the vehicle running on the road, the driver of the vehicle emits light. You can see the parallel light even when approaching the part,
It is clearly visible from a distance.

The self-light-emitting units forming the light-emitting portion are arranged in a predetermined pattern, and parallel light is emitted toward a road surface or a separated signboard, and a sign is drawn on the road surface or the signboard by the parallel light. By doing so, for example, in a region where the conventional sign drawn on the road surface is buried by snow, it is possible to draw a line-shaped sign indicating the road boundary on the snow with parallel light emitted toward the snow. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a front view and (b) is a side view.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating one embodiment of a self-luminous unit.

FIG. 4 shows an outer cylindrical body of the self-luminous unit of FIG. 3;
Is a side view, and (b) is a plan view.

5 shows an inner cylinder of the self-luminous unit of FIG. 3;
Is a side view, and (b) is a plan view.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Support 2 Light-emitting part 3 Light-emitting diode 4 Convex lens 5 Self-light-emitting unit 51 Outer cylinder 52 Inner cylinder 53 Guide slit 54 Protrusion 55 Mounting hole 6 Road surface 7 Marking 8 Signboard

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A light emitting diode is arranged at a focal position of a convex lens, and a plurality of self-luminous units are arranged in such a manner that light of the light emitting diode is refracted by the convex lens into substantially parallel light and emitted. A self-luminous road sign formed, wherein parallel light from each self-luminous unit is emitted from a light emitting unit to the outside. 2. The self-luminous road sign according to claim 1, wherein parallel light from each self-luminous unit is emitted toward a driver of a vehicle running on the road. 3. The parallel light emitted from each light emitting unit is emitted toward a road surface or a separated signboard, and the parallel light draws a sign on the road surface or the signboard. The self-luminous road sign according to claim 1. 4. The self-luminous road sign according to claim 1, wherein the convex lens is an aspheric lens having a spherical surface on the focal side and an aspherical or conical surface on the opposite side. . 5. The self-luminous unit is formed of an outer cylinder provided with a convex lens and an inner cylinder provided with a light emitting diode, and the inner cylinder is formed by aligning the optical axes of the convex lens and the light emitting diode. The light-emitting diode is slidably inserted into the outer cylinder, and the light-emitting diode is disposed at the focal position of the convex lens by sliding the inner cylinder with respect to the outer cylinder. The self-luminous road sign according to 3, 4 or 5. 6. A guide slit and a ridge fitted into the guide slit are formed in the wall surface of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder in the longitudinal direction, and the ridge is engaged with the bottom of the guide slit until it is locked. 6. The self-luminous road sign according to claim 5, wherein the light emitting diode is arranged to face the focal position of the convex lens by sliding the inner cylinder relative to the cylinder.