JPS58213Y2 - Automotive control dial lighting device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an illumination device for a control dial for an automobile, which is convenient for use in illuminating the scale of a temperature control dial of an air conditioner for an automobile, for example.

In recent years, automatic control type air conditioners have been proposed as automotive air conditioners.

This is done by operating the temperature lever to the desired scale position on the temperature scale printed on the air conditioning control panel and setting the temperature.
The air conditioner temperature inside the vehicle is always maintained at the set temperature.

When such an air conditioner is used at night, etc., a light source lamp is disposed on the back side of the control panel in order to read the temperature scale, and the entire temperature scale of the control panel is illuminated with light from this lamp.

However, in the conventional device described above, since the entire temperature scale is illuminated by the light source lamp, it is extremely difficult to instantaneously read a specific temperature scale set by the temperature lever.

Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned points, the purpose of the present invention is to intensively illuminate only the necessary parts of the display section, such as the temperature scale, so that the display section can be instantaneously read.

According to the present invention, a control includes a light-transmitting transparent annular body whose inner circumferential wall surface is a light reflecting surface, and a thin film provided on the outer circumferential surface of the transparent annular body and making only the display part transparent and the other part opaque. a dial, a panel on which the dial is rotatably arranged, a light guide plate arranged inside the panel,
a light source lamp disposed so as to be surrounded by the light guide plate, and the control dial reflects an incident light beam entering from the top surface or the bottom surface of the transparent annular body on the inner peripheral wall surface. configured to be directed toward the thin film;
The light guide plate is provided with a plurality of cutouts, and the light from the light source lamp is reflected by the cutout surface of the light guide plate and focused onto the top or bottom surface of the transparent annular body of the control dial. Provided is an illumination device for a control dial for an automobile, characterized in that the illumination device is adapted to be used in a vehicle.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail in the form of examples along with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a control panel section for an automobile air conditioner. Reference number 1 is a partition wall of the temperature control panel section, and 2 is a panel provided with openings 2d, 2e, and 2f.

A proa switch lever 2a, an inside/outside air switching lever 2b, and an outlet mode lever 2C protrude through these openings 2d, 2e, and 2f.

Further, the panel 2 is provided with an opening 2g, through which a part of the peripheral wall of the temperature control dial 3 fixed to the rotation axis of the resistor barrier pull 9 (see Fig. 3) attached to the partition wall 1 is opened. It stands out.

The control panel 2 has various display characters left transparent, and the rest is opaque.

Preferably, the panel 2 is an acrylic plate in which only the text portion is left in a color such as red or blue so that light can pass therethrough, and the rest is painted black.

Reference number 3d is a temperature indicating arrow left so as to be able to transmit light, similar to the display characters.

As clearly shown in FIG. 3, the temperature control dial 3 has a tape 6 on its outer periphery, on which the temperature scale 6a and the dividing points 6b between the scales 6a are printed in white, and the other parts are printed in black. It mainly consists of a light-transmitting transparent annular body 7 made of acrylic material pasted on the surface, and AB on the top and bottom surfaces.
The S resin plates 3a and 3b are partially attached, for example, with adhesive.

The inner peripheral surface of the annular body 7 is provided with a conical surface 7a forming an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the lower surface.

This conical surface 7a is preferably covered with a thin film of a light-reflecting material (silver paper, silver coating, etc.).

As clearly shown in FIG. 4, the ABS resin plate 3a on the top surface is provided with a plurality of openings 3C along the circumferential direction.

In FIG. 3, reference number 8 is an ABS resin cap for coupling the dial 3 to the resistor barrier pull 9, and reference number 4 is a transparent light guide plate made of acrylic resin, which will be described later.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the panel 2 of the air conditioning control panel section is removed, and the rear side of the panel 2 has a plurality of notches 4h, 4i,
An acrylic resin light guide plate 4 having 41, 4m, and 4n is fitted into 4j and 4.

A hole is provided in the light guide plate 4, and a lamp 5 as a light source is inserted inside the hole.

Further, openings are provided at positions corresponding to the openings 2d, 2e, 2f, and 2g of the panel 2.

In FIG. 2, opening 4 f corresponds to opening 2 f and 2 g.
, 4g only are shown.

The light transmitted from the lamp 5 through the medium inside the light guide plate 4 is reflected at the boundary surface of the peripheral wall of the plate, and the notches 4h, 4i,
4 j , 4 k, 41.4 m, and 4 n are provided so as to substantially totally reflect the light beam from the lamp 5.

The light from the light guide plate 4 is finally reflected by the notch 4n, and the light from the light guide plate 4
It is injected from the peripheral wall of the temperature control dial 3 and enters the top surface of the temperature control dial 3 through the opening 3C.

As clearly shown in FIG. 3, the light entering the annular body 7 is reflected by its inner circumferential wall 7a, reaches its outer circumferential surface, and is emitted into the vehicle through the transparent display scale 6a of the tape 6.

It is easily possible to provide the notch 4n so that the light incident on the annular body 7 can enter through only one of the openings 3C.

Therefore, the light enters the annular body 7 through the reflective surface 7a of the circumferential surface of the double annular body.
Although the light is reflected by the light in approximately the radial direction thereof, the range of light irradiation on the temperature scale can be prevented from expanding excessively.

The peripheral wall portion of the light guide plate 7 may be covered with silver paper or coated with silver paint to improve reflection within the medium.

In addition to illuminating the temperature control dial 3, the light guide plate 7 illuminates the openings 2d, 2e, 2f, and 2 of the air conditioning control panel.
Since it acts as a surface light source for illuminating the display characters and scale indicating arrows 3d provided around g, only one lamp 5 is required to illuminate the air conditioning control panel, reducing manufacturing costs. Moreover, power consumption can also be reduced.

Note that arrow 3d indicates the temperature control dial scale.
is provided on the left side of the rotation axis of the dial 3 as shown in FIG. 1 in relation to the scale provided on the peripheral wall of the temperature control dial 3, so that the dial scale can be easily read.

Although the present invention has been described in detail in the form of embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be freely modified within the scope of the claims for utility model registration.

For example, ``the reflective surface 7a, which is the inner circumferential surface of the light-transmissive annular body 7 of the temperature control dial 3, is shaped like a cone, but instead it is shaped like a polygonal pyramid, and the reflective surface 7a is made up of a plurality of planes.
It is also within the scope of the present invention that the light reflected by the reflective surface of each plane illuminates the corresponding scale.

Furthermore, in order to improve light convergence with respect to one scale, instead of forming the reflecting surface 7a with a plurality of planes, the reflecting surface 7a may have a plurality of concave reflecting surfaces.

Moreover, the panel 2, the light guide plate 4, and the annular body 7 can be made of any light-transmitting material, and are not limited to acrylic.

Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to control dial lighting devices other than air conditioners.

With the above configuration, the present invention can intensively illuminate the necessary parts of the temperature scale, allowing the observer to instantaneously and easily read the control dial scale.

Furthermore, although the above embodiment uses numbers (temperature scale) as the display part, it is of course possible to use characters or pictures other than numbers as the display part.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 4 all show one embodiment of the present invention, with Figure 1 being a transparent view of the air conditioning control panel section, and Figure 2 being a front view of the air conditioning control panel section. FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the temperature control dial, and FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged sectional view of the top view of the control dial. 1... Bulkhead, 2... Panel, 3...
... Temperature control tire, 4 ... Light guide plate, 5 ... Lamp, 6 ... Tape (thin film), 7 ... Annular body, 4h, 4 i, 4j, 4, 41, 4m, 4n...notch, 6a...
・Display scale, 7a... Reflective surface.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A light-transmitting transparent annular body whose inner peripheral wall surface is a light reflecting surface, a control dial provided on the outer peripheral surface of the transparent annular body and having a thin film that makes only a display part transparent and other parts opaque; The control dial includes a rotatably arranged panel, a light guide plate arranged inside the panel, and a light source lamp arranged so as to be surrounded by the guide plate, and the control dial is connected to the transparent annular body. The light guide plate is configured to reflect an incident light beam incident from the top or bottom surface of the light source on the inner peripheral wall surface and direct it toward the thin film. Light from the lamp is reflected by the cutout surface of the light guide plate and focused on the top or bottom surface of the transparent annular body of the control dial. Device.