JPH1178688A - Ring illumination of control dial - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sufficiently control a change of colors of light of illumination by providing an electric power supply control means to control electric power supply to plural light sources provided not to be seen from outside through a transmission means and a light source by a light source electric source in the inside of a hollow spherical body. SOLUTION: An amplifier 10 which is a control means to control electric power to be supplied from an electric bulb 30 to miniature lamps 1, 2, 3 is provided. A shading plate 5 arranged to make any of the miniature lamps 1, 2, 3 in the inside of a hollow spherical body 7 unseen from a transmission plate 4. Consequently, any of light transmitted by each of the miniature lamps 1, 2, 3 does not strongly influence in light taken out especially from the transmission plate 4, it is reflected on a white color inwall 7a of the hollow spherical body 7, accumulated and additive color mixed. The color of light produced as a result of additive color mixture is decided in accordance with a mixing ratio of each of the colors of the miniature lamps 1, 2, 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ring illumination of a control dial provided on a control panel, and more particularly to a ring illumination of a control dial which is adjusted by being manually rotated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, control dials that are manually rotated are used in control panels for various purposes.

FIG. 11 shows a control dial 50,
1 shows an example used for a control panel of an air conditioner for a vehicle. Many of such control dials 50 have a configuration in which illumination is arranged on the outer peripheral portion of the knob 25 that is directly rotated. Hereinafter, in the present specification, the illumination portion on the outer periphery of the knob 25 in the control dial 50 is referred to as ring illumination.

At present, the ring illumination 15 is mostly a knob 2
When the knob 5 rotates, light emission starts in a partial area. As the rotation angle of the knob 25 increases, the area of the light emission part increases, and the area of the light emission part in the direction in which the knob 25 rotates increases. It has various configurations. Such a function of the ring light 15 suggests a rotation direction and an angle of the knob 25 and also plays a decorative role of the control panel.

[0005] By the way, as a new ring illumination, a knob 2
It is considered that the direction and angle of rotation 5 are indicated by the color of the illumination. The ring light 15 starts emitting blue light by rotating the knob 25, for example.
The color of the light emitted by the ring illumination 15 changes from the initial blue to red as the rotation angle of the knob 25 increases, and the constant rotation angle and the rotation of the knob 25 depend on the intensity of the reddish light emitted from the illumination. It indicates the direction.

FIG. 12 shows a configuration generally considered to realize such ring illumination. In this ring illumination 15, 3 spheres are provided inside a hollow sphere 7 called an integrating sphere.
Two miniature bulbs 1, 2, 3 are provided in an arrangement as shown. The miniature bulb 1 has a surface of the outer bulb colored blue, and thus emits blue light. The miniature bulb 2
The surface is colored red, and therefore emits red light, and the miniature bulb 3 emits green light.

[0007] The inner wall of the hollow sphere 7 is white, and the light emitted by the three miniature bulbs is reflected and scattered inside the hollow sphere 7,
By being superimposed, additive color mixing is performed, and the light transmission window 14 is formed.
Is taken out to the outside. The electric power supplied to the miniature lamps of the three colors is changed by a control device (not shown). If a large amount of electric power is supplied to the miniature lamp 1, the bluish light extracted from the light transmitting window 14 becomes stronger, When a large amount of power is supplied, the redness of the light extracted from the light transmission window 14 increases.

In order to control the color of the light, it is necessary that the light from each of the light sources 1, 2, 3 is sufficiently mixed inside the hollow sphere 7 and acts uniformly on the extracted light.

[0009]

One of the considerations for arranging the miniature bulbs 1, 2, 3 in the hollow sphere 7 so that the light is sufficiently mixed is one of the miniature bulbs 1, 2, 2 and 3. 3 and the light transmitting window 14. For example, when the miniature bulb 1 is provided at a position visible from the light transmission window 14 as illustrated,
The blue light of the miniature bulb 1 appears more strongly in the light extracted from the light transmission window 14 than in other colors. However, it is difficult to arrange all the miniature bulbs 1, 2, and 3 in the hollow sphere 7 so as not to be seen from the light transmission window 14, due to the limitation of the space inside the hollow sphere 7. Therefore, in the configuration of FIG. 12, one of the colors always appears strongly, and there is a problem that it is difficult to control the color of the light of the ring illumination.

[0010] In addition, the original light color of the miniature bulb affects the color of the outer bulb, which makes it difficult to control the light color in ring illumination.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been made to provide a ring illumination of a control dial capable of sufficiently controlling a change in the color of illumination light. It is a thing.

[0012]

The ring illumination of the control dial according to the present invention is a ring illumination provided on the control dial, wherein the inner wall has a white hollow sphere and a hollow sphere between the inside and the outside of the hollow sphere. A transmitting means for transmitting light and a shielding means for shielding, inside the hollow sphere,
It has a plurality of light sources provided so as not to be seen from the outside via the transmission means, a light source power supply for supplying power to the light sources, and a power supply control means for controlling power supply to the light sources by the light source power supplies. It is assumed that.

With this configuration, any light emitted from the plurality of light sources is not taken out to the outside through the direct transmission means. Therefore, the light emitted by the plurality of light sources is all extracted inside the hollow sphere after being reflected and mixed. Therefore, the extracted light is not affected by the arrangement of the light sources, and changes only by controlling the supply power by the power supply control unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the ring illumination of the control dial, the light source is an incandescent light bulb whose outer tube surface is colored, and the light source whose outer tube is colored blue is an outer tube. The light source is provided so as to have twice the brightness of the light source colored in red.

[0015] With this configuration, it is possible to suppress the strong effect of red on the mixed light due to the incandescent lamp itself having a reddish light color.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of ring illumination of a control dial common to the present embodiment. The ring illumination of the control dial of the present embodiment (hereinafter, also simply referred to as ring illumination) includes three miniature bulbs 1, 2, 3,
A power supply 30 for supplying electric power to the miniature bulbs 1, 2, 3; an amplifier 10 as control means for controlling electric power supplied from the power supply 30 to the miniature bulbs 1, 2, 3;
And a volume 20 for inputting the rotation angle of the volume.

The miniature bulbs 1, 2, and 3 are small incandescent bulbs, which are generally called miniature bulbs, and the outer tubes of the glass are painted blue, red, and green, respectively. The miniature light bulbs 1, 2, and 3 emit light by power supplied from the power supply 30, and the supplied power is controlled by the amplifier 10. The control of the supplied power is to change the power supplied to the miniature bulbs 1, 2, and 3 according to the rotation angle of the knob 25 that is manually and arbitrarily rotated. A specific method will be described later.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a cross section of a configuration of a main part of the present embodiment. This configuration explains a cross section of a portion that emits light, particularly, of the ring illumination of the first embodiment. The ring illumination according to the first embodiment includes a hollow sphere 7 having a white inner wall, a transmission plate 4 that is a transmission unit that transmits light between the inside and the outside of the hollow sphere 7, and a shielding unit that shields light. , A miniature bulb 1, 2 provided inside the hollow sphere 7, and a miniature bulb 3 not shown. A volume 20 is provided inside the hollow sphere 7, and the rotation angle is input to the amplifier 10 (not shown) via the signal line 6 in accordance with the rotation of the knob 25 on the front surface of the hollow sphere 7. .

The light-shielding plate 5 is disposed so that the miniature bulbs 1, 2, 3 inside the hollow sphere 7 are not visible from the transmission plate 4. Therefore, the light emitted from each of the miniature bulbs 1, 2, 3 does not have a strong influence on the light extracted from the transmission plate 4, and the hollow sphere 7
Are reflected by the white inner wall 7a, and are superposed and additively mixed. The color of the light resulting from the additive color mixture is
It is determined by the mixing ratio of each color. In the present embodiment, the mixture ratio of each color is controlled by adjusting the brightness of each color by the power supplied to the miniature bulb and changing the ratio of the power supplied to each miniature bulb.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a specific example of power supply control according to the present embodiment. The ordinate represents the brightness of each miniature bulb (brightness), and the abscissa represents the control. The rotation angle of the dial is shown. In the drawing, blue represents the brightness of the miniature bulb 1, red represents the miniature bulb 2, and green represents the miniature bulb 3.

In the examples of FIGS. 3 and 4, the illumination light of the ring illumination is blue when the rotation angle of the volume 20 is small, becomes white as the rotation angle increases, and becomes red as the rotation angle increases. It is set to change. For this reason, in the example of FIG.
The smaller the rotation angle of, the lighter the blue miniature light bulb 1 becomes, the darker the red miniature light bulb 2 becomes, and the brightness of the green miniature light bulb 3 is set such that the volume 20 takes the maximum value at a position almost located at the center. Have been.

The brightness of each miniature bulb is determined by the
Is determined by the amount of power supplied from. Therefore, when controlling the light emission of each miniature bulb 1, 2, 3 in this way,
The smaller the rotation angle of the volume 20, the larger the power supplied to the blue miniature lamp 1 and the smaller the power supplied to the red miniature bulb 2. May be set so as to supply the maximum electric power at the position located at the position. Also, in the example shown in FIG. 4, the color of the ring illumination is set such that the smaller the rotation angle of the volume 20, the stronger the blue color, and the higher the rotation angle, the more the color goes through the white color to the red color as in the example shown in FIG. It was done. However, as shown, the brightness of the green miniature bulb 3 is always constant, and the amplifier 1 has a simpler configuration.
0 is realized.

According to the present embodiment, when the colors of the miniature bulbs are additively mixed, it is possible to prevent any one color from becoming dominant. Thus, the light resulting from the additive color mixing is effectively controlled by the supplied power.

In the following embodiments, since there are many configurations common to the above-described embodiment, the description of the common configuration will be omitted, and only the configuration that is characteristic will be described.

Second Embodiment FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the structure of a main part of a second embodiment.
In the present embodiment, the miniature bulbs 1, 2, 3 are all arranged substantially at the center of the hollow sphere 7, and further the miniature bulbs 1, 2, 2, 3 are arranged.
The reflecting plate 8 is provided so that the light of No. 3 does not leak to the outside directly, which is a feature. Note that a member having a white reflecting surface similar to the inner wall 7a is used for the reflecting plate 8 of the present embodiment.

According to the present embodiment, the miniature bulbs 1, 2, and 3 can be disposed inside the hollow sphere 7 with a relatively simple configuration so as not to be seen directly from the outside.

Third Embodiment FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the structure of a main part of a third embodiment.
In the present embodiment, the light-transmitting plate 4 is provided on the light-shielding plate 5 so that the inside of the hollow sphere 7 can be seen from the outside only in the direction of the arrow L via the region 4a shown in FIG. The direction of the region 4a and the direction of the arrow L may be such that the miniature lamps 1, 2, 3 are not visible from the outside.

The miniature bulbs 1, 2, 2,
If there is a space in which the light bulb 3 can be arranged so as not to be seen from the outside, for example, the miniature light bulbs 1, 2, and 3 may be arranged at a position facing the volume 20 so as not to be seen directly from the outside. It is possible.

According to the present embodiment, even if it is not possible to secure a sufficient space inside the hollow sphere 7 to arrange the miniature bulbs 1, 2, 3 so that they cannot be seen directly from the outside, the miniature bulbs 1, 2 can be used. , 3 can be arranged such that they are not visible from the outside.

When the miniature bulbs 1, 2, and 3 are provided at positions facing the volume 20, the miniature bulbs 1, 2, and 3 are not directly visible from outside without adding any other members. Can be. Therefore, the number of components of the ring illumination of the control dial of the present invention can be minimized.

Fourth Embodiment FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the structure of a main part of a fourth embodiment. In this embodiment, the shaft 21 connecting the knob 25 and the volume 20 is extended, and the volume 20 is arranged outside the hollow sphere 7 and fixed to the substrate 23.

According to the present embodiment, even if there is no space for providing the volume 20 inside the hollow sphere 7, the ring illumination of the control dial of the present invention can be realized.

Fifth Embodiment FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing the structure of a main part of a fifth embodiment. In the present embodiment, the miniature bulb 1
2 and 3 (the miniature bulb 3 is not shown because it is a cross-sectional view), and the light emitted from the light bulb 25a is a member that transmits light.
Thus, the hollow sphere 7 enters through the opposing transmission plate 4. The light emitted from the miniature bulbs 1, 2, and 3 entering the hollow sphere 7 is reflected inside the hollow sphere 7, is added to the color mixture, and is taken out again through the transmission plate 4.

In the configuration shown in FIG.
0 is disposed outside the hollow sphere 7, but the present embodiment is not limited to this configuration, and the volume 20
May be arranged inside the hollow sphere 7 similarly to the first to fourth embodiments.

According to the present embodiment, the ring illumination of the control dial of the present invention can be realized even when there is no space inside the hollow sphere 7 for providing the miniature bulbs 1, 2, and 3 so as not to be seen from the outside. Can be.

Sixth Embodiment FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing the structure of a main part of a sixth embodiment. In the present embodiment, the knob 25 and a part of the hollow sphere are configured to be integral with each other, and the miniature bulbs 1, 2, and 3 are arranged so as to be invisible from the outside by the knob 25. The additively mixed light of the present embodiment is extracted to the outside via the transmission plate 4 from the gap 7b between the knob 25 and the hollow sphere 7.

According to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to particularly provide the light shielding plate 5 on the hollow sphere 7, and the ring illumination of the control dial of the present invention can be realized.

Seventh Embodiment FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the seventh embodiment. An incandescent bulb, such as a miniature bulb, which is a miniature bulb common to all the embodiments described above, emits light of a slightly reddish color. Therefore, when the outer bulb of the miniature bulb is painted blue, it is not possible to obtain the same brightness for the same power supply as compared to the case where the outer bulb is painted red. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the number of the blue miniature bulbs 1 is twice the number of the red miniature bulbs 2, and the effect of the original light color of the incandescent bulbs on the additively mixed light is negated. .

According to this embodiment, regardless of the original color of the incandescent lamp, blue can be expressed with the same brightness as red.

[0040]

According to the ring illumination of the control dial of the present invention, the lights emitted from the plurality of light sources are all reflected inside the hollow sphere and are extracted after additive color mixing.
Therefore, the extracted light is not affected by the arrangement of the light sources, and any color of the illumination light can be expressed only by controlling the power supply by the power supply control unit.

The ring illumination of the control dial according to the second aspect of the invention is such that the additively mixed light is controlled without being affected by the original color of the incandescent sphere, so that it is possible to express blue with particularly high saturation. Become.

The above-described effects according to the first and second aspects make it possible to arbitrarily adjust the color of light emitted from the ring illumination, thereby increasing the added value of the control dial.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a configuration common to the first to sixth embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a main part of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a power supply control method according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another power supply control method according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a main part of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a main part according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a fourth configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a main part according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a main part according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a seventh exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example in which a general control dial is used for an air conditioner for a vehicle.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a ring illumination that can be conventionally considered.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 2, 3 ... miniature bulb, 4 ... transmission plate, 5 ... light shielding plate, 7 ... hollow sphere, 10 ... amplifier, 20 ... volume, 25 ... knob, 30 ... power supply.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A ring illumination provided on a control dial, comprising: a hollow sphere (7) having a white inner wall; and a transmission means (4) for transmitting light between the inside and the outside of the hollow sphere (7). And a plurality of light sources (1, 2, 3) provided inside the hollow sphere (7) so as to be invisible from the outside via the transmission means (4). A light source power supply (3) for supplying power to the light sources (1, 2, 3)
0) and power supply control means (10, 20) for controlling power supply to the light sources (1, 2, 3) by the light source power supply (30).
Ring illumination of a control dial, characterized by having: 2. The light source (1, 2, 3) is an incandescent light bulb having a surface of an outer tube colored, and among the light sources, the light source (1) whose outer tube is colored blue.
2. The ring illumination of the control dial according to claim 1, wherein the outer tube is provided so that the outer tube has twice the brightness of the light source colored in red.