KR100990323B1 - Graphic Print Sheet and Car Instrument Cluster having Light Guide Film - Google Patents

Abstract

Initiate automotive instrumentation. The instrument includes a rear case, a front case, a transparent cover, and a circuit board on which a graphic printing sheet is integrally formed on the front side. The printed circuit board includes a printed circuit board having a front side and a rear side, a plurality of light emitting diodes installed at the front side of the printed circuit board corresponding to the instrument windows and the lamp display windows, and emitting light in a horizontal direction, and the instrument windows. Each of the guide rotation shafts protruded to the front of the printed circuit board and a plurality of shaft holes into which the guide rotation shafts are inserted are formed, and the front surface is printed with an antireflective coating layer except for a display pattern displaying numbers and letters. Inserted into the plurality of through holes, the space maintaining sheet formed with a plurality of through holes corresponding to the instrument windows and the lamp display windows and maintaining a predetermined distance between the printed graphic printed sheet and the printed circuit board and the printed circuit board; The light emitted from each light emitting diode is guided to the inside from the side and proceeds in the horizontal direction. It includes a plurality of waveguide films that are reflected in the reflection pattern and guides the light toward the front toward the display pattern of the graphic printing sheet. Therefore, since the graphic printed sheet is integrally formed on the circuit board, cost can be reduced and slimming can be improved by improving assembly and productivity.

Description

Graphic Print Sheet and Car Instrument Cluster having Light Guide Film

The present invention relates to an automotive instrument and a graphic printing sheet, and more particularly, assembly productivity is improved by integrally forming a graphic printing sheet on a circuit board using a waveguide film or integrally forming a light emitting diode on the graphic printing sheet. The present invention relates to an automobile instrument that can be slimmed down.

In general, the vehicle instrument panel is used for various vehicles such as a part of the instrument window displaying information such as engine temperature, engine speed, vehicle speed, fuel gauge, left and right turn indicators, seat belt wearing light, door light, and side brake light. A display window portion that displays the status allows the driver to visually know the vehicle driving and current status while driving.

The dashboard of the car is placed in front of the driver's handle so that the driver can always see well, regardless of the light or darkness of the day or night. In other words, to prevent the effects of bright sunlight during the day, the instrument panel is always mechanically designed to be shaded, and at night it is so bright that it can be easily seen even in the surrounding darkness, and it is designed so that the driver is not dazzling. In other words, if the difference between the driver's forward looking condition and the instrument panel is too great, the eyes may be tired from sudden expansion and contraction of the iris, which may affect safe driving.

The dashboard of an automobile is an electrical component that is electrically connected to various sensors and switches installed in a vehicle and displays the sensed information and the switch operation by a lance and a lamp. Recently, with the development of electronic products, instead of a simple chamfering structure, an advanced display for electronically displaying numbers or indications with a flat panel display technology using LCDs and OLEDs is in progress. Patent Publication No. 2004-49017 discloses a vehicle instrument panel using an inorganic EL sheet as a light source. In addition, the display lamp is a low-power semi-permanent LED lighting lamp instead of the conventional filament lamp. The use of these electronic components is also making car dashboards slimmer and diversified and advanced.

Disclosed are a direct illumination method using an LED and a diffusion plate and a side illumination method using an LED and a light guide plate.

The direct lighting method can easily secure the desired uniform illuminance, while the gap between the graphic printing sheet and the LED must be maintained at a certain interval, making it difficult to make slim and require multiple LEDs to secure uniform illuminance. Since the diffusion structure is required so that light is not emitted directly, there is a problem of cost increase and unnecessary power consumption.

Since the side lighting method is a method of injecting LED light from the side of the light guide plate and emitting it to the front side, the number of LEDs is greatly reduced and it can be made slim, but optical design such as diffusion and reflection is required to maintain uniformity of illumination. Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-47404 discloses a side lighting type vehicle dashboard lighting structure. This patent employs a diffusing prism structure on the front of the light guide plate, but this prism structure is difficult to process, increasing production costs.

In addition, various product developments are being conducted, such as a side lighting method and a lamp display window which is a direct type, but there are no products with cheap and uniform lighting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to provide an automobile instrument apparatus capable of assembly and cost reduction by integrally slimming the graphic printing sheet and the circuit board of the automobile instrument panel.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an automotive instrument that can reduce the cost, such as mold production by removing the injection between the circuit board and the graphic printing sheet.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an automobile instrument apparatus capable of making uniform illuminance of an instrument window while using a small number of light emitting diodes.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a graphic printing sheet in which a waveguide film and a light emitting diode are integrally formed on the graphic printing sheet.

The instrument for achieving the above object includes a rear case, a front case, a transparent cover, and a circuit board on which a graphic printing sheet is integrally formed. The printed circuit board includes a printed circuit board having a front side and a rear side, a plurality of light emitting diodes installed at the front side of the printed circuit board corresponding to the instrument windows and the lamp display windows, and emitting light in a horizontal direction, and the instrument windows. Each of the guide rotation shafts protruded to the front of the printed circuit board and a plurality of shaft holes into which the guide rotation shafts are inserted are formed, and the front surface is printed with an antireflective coating layer except for a display pattern displaying numbers and letters. Inserted into the plurality of through holes, the space maintaining sheet formed with a plurality of through holes corresponding to the instrument windows and the lamp display windows and maintaining a predetermined distance between the printed graphic printed sheet and the printed circuit board and the printed circuit board; The light emitted from each light emitting diode is guided to enter the inside from the side and proceed in the horizontal direction. Is reflected by the reflection pattern comprises a number of waveguides for guiding the film such that light emitted from the front toward the display pattern of the graphic printing sheet.

In the present invention, the reflection pattern of each waveguide film is composed of a plurality of grooves formed by pressing the film back surface.

In the present invention, the light emitting diodes corresponding to the respective instrument windows are arranged in a fan shape on the concentric circles around the rotation axis of each guide to emit light in the direction of the display pattern from the rotation axis of each guide.

The graphic printing sheet of the present invention is a transparent sheet having a front and a rear, a printed layer printed on the front of the transparent sheet, a plurality of waveguide films attached to correspond to each display area of the back of the transparent sheet, and the transparent sheet A plurality of flexible circuit boards each corresponding to the plurality of waveguide films attached to the rear surface of the plurality of flexible circuit boards, the connector being connected to the circuit board at an end of the extension, and electrically coupled to each of the plurality of flexible circuit boards. And a plurality of light emitting diodes which are optically coupled to the side surfaces of the waveguide films to emit light onto the corresponding waveguide film.

Another instrument of the present invention is a rear case is installed with a connector for connecting the vehicle wiring, the front case is assembled with the rear case to form a space therein and a plurality of instrument windows and lamp display windows, and assembled to the front of the front case And a drive motor for driving instructions such as a speed meter, an engine speed, a flow gauge, a thermometer, and the like, which is accommodated in the space formed by assembling the rear case and the front case. A circuit board configured with a control circuit unit for controlling a corresponding status display, and mounted in an accommodation groove of a front case, and on the front surface, a graphic printed display for displaying a speed meter, an engine speed, a flow gauge, a thermometer, and a plurality of status display windows. On the back, a plurality of waveguide films attached to each display area and a plurality of waveguide films are respectively And a plurality of flexible circuit boards having a connector connected to the circuit board at an end of the extension portion, the plurality of flexible circuit boards electrically coupled to each of the plurality of flexible circuit boards, and optically coupled to side surfaces of the plurality of waveguide films. And a plurality of instructions that are mounted on a graphics printing sheet integrally configured with a plurality of light emitting diodes for receiving light thereon and rotated on rotating shafts protruding in front of the graphics printing sheet.

In the present invention, a front side of the front case includes a plurality of waveguide film accommodating grooves for accommodating a plurality of waveguide films respectively attached to the rear side of the graphic printing sheet, and a plurality of flexible circuit boards attached to the rear side of the graphic printing sheet, respectively. A plurality of flexible circuit board accommodating grooves for receiving and a plurality of through holes for passing through the extension of the plurality of flexible circuit boards, respectively. In addition, the conductive wire widths formed on the flexible circuit boards are preferably configured to have a sufficient width to dissipate heat generated from the light emitting diodes.

The instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention forms a graphic printed sheet integrally on a circuit board, thereby eliminating intermediate injections, improving assembly and productivity, and thus allowing cost reduction and slimming. In addition, since the reflective pattern of the waveguide film can be effectively formed by pressing, productivity is improved, and the design and manufacture of the reflective pattern can be easily saved, thereby reducing costs. In addition, since the light emitting diodes are arranged concentrically around the rotation axis of the guide, the light source and the reflection pattern are maintained at an equidistant distance, so that the pattern design is easy and the illuminance can be uniform. In addition, since the waveguide film and the light emitting diode are integrally formed on the graphic printing sheet, the light waveguide film and the light emitting diode are easily coupled to each other, thereby improving the assemblability and productivity and maintaining the uniformity of the product.

Hereinafter, a vehicle instrument according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, and those skilled in the art The present invention may be embodied in various other forms without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Example 1

1 is an exploded perspective view of a vehicle apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawings, the instrument device 100 includes a rear case 110, a circuit board 120, a front case 130, a transparent cover 140, and a plurality of instructions 150. The rear case 110 and the front case 130 are assembled to form a space for accommodating the circuit board 120. The rear case 110 supports the rear portion of the circuit board 120 and is provided with a wire connector for connecting with the vehicle electrical component. The front case 130 is formed with a plurality of instrument windows 132 and a plurality of lamp display windows 134 and the front surface is non-reflective paint. The transparent cover 140 is assembled to the front of the front case 130 to protect the instrument panel.

The circuit board 120 is integrally formed with a graphic printing sheet on the front surface, and the power circuit component and the instructional rotating motors (or electric field actuators) are installed on the rear surface. The rotating shaft 212 of the guide rotary motors installed on the rear side protrude to the front side. Instructions 150 are coupled to the ends of the rotating shaft 212.

2 is an exploded perspective view of the graphic printed sheet integrated circuit board of FIG. 1;

Referring to the drawings, the circuit board 120 includes a printed circuit board 210, a waveguide film 220, a space keeping sheet 230, and a graphic printing sheet 240.

The printed circuit board 210 has a rotating shaft 212 protruding from the front surface, a plurality of light emitting diodes 214 are installed, and a liquid crystal panel 218 for displaying information such as a travel distance and a current time is installed. The rotating shaft 212 includes a rotating shaft for engine speed guidance, a rotating shaft for speedometer guidance, a rotating shaft for fuel guidance, and a rotating shaft for cooling water temperature guidance. A total of 18 light emitting diodes 214 are provided for three engine speed display lights, three speedometer display lights, two fuel display lights, two temperature display lights, and one lamp corresponding to each lamp display window. The number of light emitting diodes is one embodiment and various combinations are possible. The light emitting diodes 214 emit light in a horizontal direction along the surface of the substrate without emitting light forward. Three or two light emitting diodes for the instrument window display illumination are arranged concentrically around the axis of rotation 212 to divide and illuminate the instrument graphic print sheet area to maintain the same illumination anywhere in the graphic print sheet. Since the display area of the lamp display window is narrow and needs to be turned on or off individually, the light emitting diodes are disposed in contact with the edge of the display window.

The waveguide film 220 is formed in a shape corresponding to the display area of each of the instrument windows or display windows. The waveguide films 221 ˜ 224 corresponding to the instrument window are cut in a fan shape and coupling grooves are formed at inner edges to couple the light emitting diodes. The waveguide films 225 to 227 corresponding to the display window are cut into a display window shape, for example, a rectangle. The waveguide films 225 and 226 for the left and right turn indicators have light emitting diode coupling grooves, respectively. The side surface of the waveguide film is tightly coupled with the light emitting diode through the coupling groove to increase the incident light amount.

The gap maintaining sheet 230 has a plurality of through holes 231 to 237 and the through holes are formed in a shape for accommodating the waveguide film. The gap maintaining sheet 230 not only accommodates the waveguide film but also maintains a predetermined space with the printed circuit board 210, and serves to block the side surfaces of the waveguide films so that light does not leak out of the hole. The liquid crystal panel 218 is accommodated in the through hole 238. The rotating shaft 212 is inserted into the through hole 239.

The graphic print sheet 240 is printed with an engine speed dial display pattern 241, a speedometer dial display pattern 242, a flow dial display pattern 243, a temperature dial display pattern 244, and the like. 245 and 246 and a vehicle status display pattern 247 are printed. That is, the areas of the display patterns 241 to 247 are kept transparent to allow light to pass through, and the remaining areas are coated with anti-reflective black. Therefore, only the display pattern area is brightly displayed. The display pattern 248 is a light transmission window of the liquid crystal panel 218. Color printing for displaying red on the display pattern may be performed on the rear surface of the graphic printing sheet 240. The graphic printing sheet 240 may be configured by printing a display pattern on a translucent film such as a diffusion sheet. In this case, the light transmission window 248 of the liquid crystal panel will be manufactured in a through shape.

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG.

Referring to the drawings, the circuit board 120 of the present invention is the light emitted in the horizontal direction from the light emitting diode 214 is incident through the side of the waveguide film 221 is guided in the horizontal direction riding the waveguide film 221 The progressed light is reflected by the reflective pattern 221a and is emitted upward through the transparent display pattern 241 of the graphic printing sheet 240 to illuminate the scale. The periphery of the display pattern 241 is coated with the black coating layer 240a to block light from being emitted upward. The guide 150 is coupled to the rotating shaft 212 of the rotary motor 160 so that its end moves on the scale display pattern 241.

Example 2

Figure 4 shows an exploded perspective view of a vehicle instrument of another preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 shows an exploded perspective view of the graphic printing sheet according to the present invention, Figure 6 shows the front of the front case of Figure 4, 7 shows the electrical connection between the graphic printing sheet and the circuit board of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, another exemplary instrument 400 includes a rear case 410, a circuit board 420, a front case 430, a transparent cover 440, and a plurality of instructions 450. . The graphic printing sheet 460 is mounted on the front of the front case 430.

The rear case 410 and the front case 430 are assembled to form a space for accommodating the circuit board 420. The rear case 410 supports the rear portion of the circuit board 420 and is provided with a wire connector for connecting with the vehicle electrical component.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, waveguide film receiving grooves 432 and flexible circuit board receiving grooves 434 corresponding to the plurality of instrument windows and the plurality of lamp display windows are formed on the front surface of the front case 430. . In addition, a plurality of through holes 436 through which an extension of the flexible circuit board passes is formed on the front surface of the front case 430. In addition, a transparent cover 440 is assembled on the front surface of the front case 430 to protect the graphic printing sheet 460.

Rotating shafts protrude from the front surface of the circuit board 420. Guide 450 is coupled to the end of this axis of rotation. On the back, power circuit components, flexible circuit board connection connectors 424 and guide rotary motors (or electric field actuators) 422 are installed.

Referring to FIG. 5, the graphic printing sheet 460 includes a transparent sheet 462 having a front side and a rear side, a printed layer 464 having a graphic printed on the front side of the transparent sheet 462, and a rear side of the transparent sheet 462. Corresponding to the plurality of waveguide films 466 attached to each display area and the plurality of waveguide films 466 attached to the rear surface of the transparent sheet 462, respectively, and connected to a circuit board at an end of the extension part. A plurality of flexible printed circuit boards 468 and connectors are electrically coupled to each of the plurality of flexible printed circuit boards 468 and optically coupled to side surfaces of the plurality of waveguide films 466 to provide light to corresponding waveguide films. And a plurality of light emitting diodes 468c for incident light.

In front of the transparent sheet 462, a speed meter 464a, an engine speed 464b, a fuel gauge 464c, a thermometer 464d and status display windows 464e are graphically printed. The graphic pattern portion of the print layer 464 is kept transparent so that light can be transmitted, and the remaining base portion is printed with an antireflective coating material such as carbon black.

The waveguide films 466 reflect the light incident from the light emitting diode through the side surface by a reflection pattern (not shown) to emit light through the light transmitting portion of the printed layer 464. The reflective pattern is formed in a groove shape on the rear surface of the reflective pattern by a normal pressing method. As the density of the reflective pattern increases away from the light source, the size of the pattern increases. Therefore, uniform illuminance is maintained regardless of the distance from the light source.

The flexible circuit board 468 is attached to the graphic printing sheet 462 where the light emitting diodes 468c are joined by soldering, and the extension 468a is drawn out rearward through the through hole 436 of the front case 430. And a connector 468b connected at an end thereof is coupled to and electrically connected to the connector 424 of the circuit board 420.

Therefore, since the waveguide film 466 and the light emitting diode 468c are integrally coupled on the graphic printing sheet 460, the optical coupling between the waveguide film and the light emitting diode is facilitated, thereby simplifying assembly and improving optical characteristics reliability.

6 illustrates a rear surface of the graphic printing sheet 460, in which the waveguide films 466 and the flexible circuit boards 468 are attached to the transparent sheet 462.

The integrated graphic printing sheet 460 of FIG. 6 is accommodated in the receiving grooves 432 and 434 formed on the front surface of the front case 430 of FIG. 7, and the extension 468a of the flexible circuit boards 468 is a through hole. It is drawn backward through the 436 and is connected to the circuit board 420.

The light emitting diodes 468c are high brightness light emitting diodes, and thus heat generation is required when lighting for a long time, so measures for heat radiation are required. In an embodiment of the present invention, the conductor widths formed on the flexible circuit boards are configured to be as large as possible with a line width large enough to dissipate heat generated from the light emitting diodes. In addition to this, an adhesive having good thermal conductivity is applied to the flexible circuit board around the light emitting diode, and an aluminum cap is attached to the applied adhesive to radiate heat.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the production cost by reducing the number of parts and improve the assembly of the vehicle instrument, and contribute to the safe driving at night by reducing the eye fatigue of the driver by making the illumination of the instrument window uniform.

Although described with reference to the embodiments above, those skilled in the art can variously modify and change the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described in the claims below. You will understand.

1 is an exploded perspective view of a vehicle instrument of a preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

2 is an exploded perspective view of the graphic printed sheet integrated circuit board of FIG. 1;

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG.

Figure 4 shows an exploded perspective view of a vehicle instrument of another preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

5 is an exploded perspective view of a graphic printing sheet according to the present invention.

6 illustrates a front surface of the front case of FIG. 4.

7 shows the electrical connection between the graphic printing sheet and the circuit board of the present invention.

Claims (8)

delete A rear case provided with a connector for connecting a vehicle wiring, a front case assembled with the rear case to form a space therein, and having a plurality of instrument windows and lamp display windows, a transparent cover assembled to the front of the front case; A circuit board accommodated in the space formed by assembling the rear case and the front case, and having a graphic printed sheet integrally formed on the front surface thereof; A printed circuit board having a front side and a rear side; A plurality of light emitting diodes disposed on a front surface of the printed circuit board corresponding to the instrument windows and the lamp display windows, respectively, and emitting light in a horizontal direction; Guide rotation shafts protruding to the front surface of the printed circuit board corresponding to the instrument windows respectively; A graphic printing sheet in which a plurality of shaft holes into which the guide rotation shafts are inserted are formed, and in which a remaining area except a display pattern displaying numbers and letters is printed on the front surface of the anti-reflective coating layer; A gap maintaining sheet which maintains a predetermined distance between the graphic printed sheet and the printed circuit board and has a plurality of through holes corresponding to the instrument windows and the lamp display windows; And Inserted into the plurality of through holes, respectively, guides the light emitted from each of the light emitting diodes to enter the inside from the side to proceed in the horizontal direction, and the advanced light is reflected in the reflection pattern toward the display pattern of the graphic printing sheet With a number of waveguide films that guide out the front The reflection pattern of each of the waveguide films is a vehicle instrument, characterized in that a plurality of grooves formed by pressing the film back. The light emitting diodes of claim 2, wherein the light emitting diodes corresponding to the respective instrument windows of the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged at equal intervals in a concentric shape on a concentric circle around the rotation axis of each of the guides so as to display light from the rotation axis of each guide in the display pattern direction. Automotive instrument characterized by this orientation. In the graphic printing sheet of a vehicle instrument which is graphically printed to display a speed meter, engine speed, flow gauge, thermometer and a plurality of status displays, Transparent sheet with front and back sides; A printed layer graphically printed on the front surface of the transparent sheet; A plurality of waveguide films attached to the display areas of the rear surface of the transparent sheet; A plurality of flexible circuit boards each corresponding to the plurality of waveguide films attached to a rear surface of the transparent sheet and having a connector connected to a circuit board at an end of the extension part; And a plurality of light emitting diodes electrically coupled to each of the plurality of flexible circuit boards and optically coupled to side surfaces of the plurality of waveguide films to emit light onto a corresponding waveguide film. Sheet. A rear case with a connector for connecting the vehicle wiring; A front case assembled with the rear case to form a space therein and having a plurality of instrument windows and lamp display windows; A transparent cover assembled to the front of the front case; It is stored in the space formed by the assembly of the rear case and the front case, the drive motor for driving the instructions such as the speed meter, engine speed, flow rate gauge, thermometer, etc. is mounted and senses the state of the vehicle to respond A circuit board configured with a control circuit section for controlling display; It is mounted in the receiving groove of the front case, the front is graphically printed to display the speed meter, engine speed, flow gauge, thermometer and a plurality of status display windows, the rear of the plurality of waveguide film attached to each display area And a plurality of flexible circuit boards each corresponding to the plurality of waveguide films and having a connector connected to a circuit board at an end of an extension, and electrically coupled to each of the plurality of flexible circuit boards. A graphic printing sheet having a plurality of light emitting diodes integrally coupled to side surfaces of the waveguide films and configured to receive light onto a corresponding waveguide film; And And a plurality of instructions that are mounted and rotated on the rotating shafts protruding from the front surface of the graphic printing sheet. The method of claim 5, wherein the front of the front case A plurality of waveguide film accommodating grooves for accommodating a plurality of waveguide films respectively attached to a rear surface of the graphic printing sheet; A plurality of flexible circuit board accommodating grooves for accommodating a plurality of flexible circuit boards attached to a rear surface of the graphic printing sheet; And a plurality of through holes for passing through the extensions of the plurality of flexible circuit boards, respectively. The conductive wire width of claim 5, wherein the conductive wire widths formed on the flexible circuit boards are respectively. And a line width of a size sufficient to dissipate heat generated from the light emitting diodes. 6. The automotive instrument as claimed in claim 5, wherein each of the light emitting diodes of the flexible circuit board is covered with an aluminum cap for dissipating heat generated.

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