JPS6215761Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] This invention relates to a reflector that is attached to automobiles, bicycles, etc., and a reflector used for visual guidance signs used on roads. The light is retroreflected towards the driver's eyes.

Reflection elements in conventional reflectors are shown in Figures 1 and 2.
1 and 1' as shown in the figure, each with 3
It consists of a right triangular pyramid whose two planes 2, 2, 2, 2', 2', 2' intersect at right angles and has vertices 3, 3', forming a regular hexagon in plan view, with vertices 3, 3' being the center of the regular hexagon. and each plane 2, 2,
2 comrades and 2', 2', 2' comrades are each formed to have the same area. Such reflective elements 1 and 1' exhibit perfect retroreflection if the planes that make up the element intersect at right angles, and reflect the light from the light source toward the light source. Due to manufacturing errors in the mold, volumetric shrinkage of the resin material during molding, etc., the reflection characteristics tend to be more or less diffused, as shown in FIG. 3. In such reflective elements 1 and 1', light incident on a certain surface is sequentially reflected by that surface and two other surfaces and retroreflected in the direction of the light source, but this shows a tendency to diffuse. In this case, six congruent surfaces S _A ′, S _B ′, S _A ″, S
_B '' shows a greater tendency to diffuse in the direction radiating from the vertices 3, 3'. In other words, in Fig. 3, the point where the horizontal line H-H and the vertical line V-V intersect is the center of the reflectors 1, 1'. Isophotonic lines show the characteristics of reflecting light from a light source directly facing the object, and show a noticeable diffusion tendency in six directions at 60° intervals.These lines can be used to reflect light emitted from a light source directly facing the object. When used in a vehicle, what is actually useful is the diffusely reflected light in the A direction and the B direction.In other words, depending on the physique of the driver, as shown in Figure 4, the position of the headlamp may be 4 or 4'. Then the driver's eye position becomes 5,
From headlamp position 4 on the left, this is approximately 60° above the horizontal line H-H, and from headlamp position 4' on the right, it is approximately 60° above the horizontal line H.
It is 90 degrees above, that is, on the vertical line V'-V'. Therefore, when the irradiated light from the left headlamp is reflected, the reflected light in the B direction is reflected, and when the irradiated light from the right headlamp is reflected, the reflected light in the A direction is directed toward the driver. It will be visible. The other reflections, especially in the C and F directions, show the same diffusion characteristics as the A and B directions, but
This is completely useless. Therefore, by reducing the reflected light in the C and F directions, A and B
By turning in the direction of the driver, the irradiated light can be reflected very effectively towards the driver's eyes.

The present invention was developed from this point of view, and is made of a right triangular pyramid having three planes that intersect at right angles and has an apex. A large number of reflective elements are formed such that one of the ridge lines that intersect with each other is arranged along the major axis, and the apex is at the center of the shape in the planar figure. Passing through the apex of a right triangular pyramid consisting of a plane and passing through the above 3
(lines at equal angles to the two planes) are approximately perpendicular to the surface of the transparent plate-like element, and the major axis of each reflective element is at an angle of 40° to 80° with respect to the horizontal plane. It is characterized in that it is formed in a dense manner on the inner surface of the transparent plate-like element body.

The details of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 5 shows a reflector according to the present invention, for example, a transparent element body 6 made of a transparent material such as acrylic resin.
A large number of reflective elements 7 are densely arranged on the back surface of the mirror. This reflective element 7 has three planes 8,
8' and 8' intersect each other at right angles and are a right triangular pyramid having an apex f, and in a plan view, the major axis x-
It is formed into contour shapes h, n, l, and q having x' and a minor axis, and -fj, the ridge line formed by the intersection of the three planes, is arranged along the major axis x-x', and the apex f is formed so that it is located at the center of the shape in the plan view, and is arranged so that its major axis x-x' forms an angle of 40° to 80° with respect to the horizontal plane. In the reflective element 7 in this embodiment, the outline hnlq in the plane figure is a rectangle, and both the upper and lower sides hq, nl and the ridgeline fj
is located parallel to the ridge lines fi and fp, and Y is twice the horizontal distance between the edges fi and fp so that Y<pl. Also,
Edges fi and fp are formed as fi = fp, and corner points g, m, and r used in the following explanation are hg = ng, ir = pm.
It is set in a position where

Before explaining the effects of the reflector of the present invention, the reflection characteristics of the reflection element 7 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. In addition, in FIGS. 6 and 7, in order to make it easier to understand the reflection characteristics, the reflection element 7 is arranged so that its major axis x-x' is along a horizontal plane.

Light that enters the surface fghi from the front of the reflecting element 7 is reflected by the surface fjki, and further reflected by the surface fjlm in the opposite direction to the incident direction, that is, toward the light source direction. face fgnp
The light incident on is similarly reflected from fjqr toward the light source. The light incident on the surface fjlm is the surface fjki
It is further reflected from the surface fghi toward the light source. The light incident on the surface fmp is reflected on the surface fip, and further reflected on the surface fir toward the light source. Similarly, the light incident on the surfaces fjqr and fri is reflected toward the light source from the surfaces fgnp and fpm, respectively. Therefore, the reflection efficiency of this reflection element 7 is
It is 100%.

Even in the case of such a reflective element 7, it inevitably tends to diffuse due to mold manufacturing errors, volumetric shrinkage of the resin material during molding, and the like. In this reflective element 7, the surfaces fjlm, fjqr, fghi,
The amount of light reflected from fgnp toward the light source is
The amount of light reflected from fir and fpm toward the light source is much greater than that, and the diffusion tendency is also strong, so that the reflection characteristics shown in FIG. 7 are exhibited. In other words, the amount of light is small in the vertical direction and the diffusion angle is small.
It exhibits reflection characteristics with a large amount of light and a large diffusion angle in four directions, each forming an angle of 60° with respect to the horizontal line H-H.

Therefore, if this reflective element 7 is arranged so that the major axis x-x' is upwardly rightward by 60 degrees with respect to the horizontal line H-H as shown in Fig. 8, its reflection characteristics will be as shown in Fig. 9. , that is, parts A' and B', which have a large amount of reflected light and a large diffusion angle, are located in the vertical direction and the horizontal line H, respectively.
-H, the eyes will be oriented 30 degrees upward to the right, and will match the position of the driver's eyes shown in FIG.

As described above, in the reflector of the present invention, the direction with the largest amount of light and the largest diffusion angle due to the reflection characteristics of the reflector is directed toward the eyes of the vehicle driver, so that an extremely efficient reflector can be obtained. Can be done.

Incidentally, in the above embodiment, the reflective element 7 having a rectangular outline in the plan view was used.
The reflective element is not limited to a rectangular shape, and can be modified in various ways within the scope of the claims for utility model registration. For example, Figure 10~
A reflective element shown in FIG. 12 is used.

The reflective element 9 in FIG. 10 has a shape in which the sides along the short axis of a rectangle are curved in a convex shape in a plan view,
It consists of a right triangular pyramid with three planes 10, 10', 10' intersecting at right angles and having an apex 11, and ridge lines 12, 12', 12' formed by intersecting the three planes 10, 10', 10' with each other. -12 is the major axis x-
It is arranged along x′ and is formed so that the apex 11 is located at the center of the planar shape, and the reflection efficiency is also 100%.
It exhibits reflection characteristics similar to those of the reflection element 7 described above.

The reflective element 13 in FIG. 11 has a rhombus shape long in one direction in plan view, and has three planes 14,
14', 14' intersect at right angles and are a right triangular pyramid having an apex 15, and the three planes 14, 1
4', 14' intersect with each other to form ridge lines 16, 1
6', 16' are arranged along the major axis x-x', and the apex 15 is formed at the center of the shape (diamond) in the plan view,
The reflection efficiency of this reflection element 13 is also 100%, and exhibits the same reflection characteristics as the reflection element 7.

The reflective element 17 in FIG. 12 has a long diameter x
-x', the three planes 18, 18', 18' intersect at right angles and are a right triangular pyramid having an apex 19; ', 18' intersect with each other and the ridge line 20, 20', 20', 20, is the major axis x
-x', and is formed so that the apex 19 is located at the center of the planar shape, and the reflection efficiency is 100%, and has the same reflection characteristics as the reflection element 7. shows.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a rear view showing an example of a reflective element used in a conventional reflector, Figure 2 is a rear view showing another example of a conventional reflective element, and Figure 3 is a rear view of a conventional reflective element. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the headlights of a car and the position of the driver's eyes; FIG. 5 is a front view showing an example of the implementation of the reflector of the present invention; FIG. The figures show an example of the reflective element used in the present invention, where A is a rear view, B is a view B of figure A, C is a view C of figure A, and D is a view D of figure A.
7 is a diagram showing the reflection characteristics of the reflective element in FIG. 6 using isophotic lines, FIG. 8 is a front view illustrating an example of the arrangement of the reflective element in the present invention, and FIG. 10 to 12 are rear views showing other embodiments of the reflective element of the present invention, respectively. Explanation of symbols, 7...Reflection element, 8, 8'...Plane, f...Vertex, fj...Ridge line along the longitudinal direction, x
-x′...Longitudinal direction, H-H...Horizontal line (plane), 9
... Reflective element, 10, 10'... Plane, 11...
Vertex, 12... Ridge line along the longitudinal direction, 13... Reflective element, 14, 14'... Plane, 15... Vertex,
16... Ridge line along the longitudinal direction, 17... Reflective element, 18, 18'... Plane, 19... Vertex, 20
...A ridge line along the longitudinal direction.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A right triangular pyramid whose three planes intersect at right angles and has an apex is formed into a contour shape having a major axis and a minor axis in a plane figure, and one of the ridge lines formed when the three planes intersect with each other is drawn along the major axis. A large number of reflective elements are arranged so that the apex is located at the center of the planar shape, and the axes of the respective reflective elements (three points perpendicular to each other)
A line that passes through the apex of a right triangular pyramid consisting of three planes and is equiangular to the three planes) is approximately perpendicular to the surface of the transparent plate-like element, and the major axis of each reflective element A reflector characterized in that the reflector is formed on the inner surface of the transparent plate-like body in a dense manner so as to have an angle of 40° to 80° with respect to a horizontal plane.