OA10156A

OA10156A - Display and indicating panel

Info

Publication number: OA10156A
Application number: OA60661A
Authority: OA
Inventors: Salah Djelouah
Original assignee: Sorelec
Priority date: 1994-05-18
Filing date: 1995-05-18
Publication date: 1996-12-18
Also published as: TNSN95056A1; DZ1886A1; FR2720181B1; MA23602A1; ITTO950390A0; ITTO950390A1; ES2107958B1; FR2720181A1; IT1279211B1; AU2007795A; BE1008750A3; ES2107958A1; AU702512B2

Description

I 1 010156 "Display and indicating panel"

The présent invention relatee to a display andindicating panel, especially an advertising display panelor a road sign, formed by a transparent sheet illuminated 5 via the edge face uaing a distributed light source.

Such a display panel is already known, especiallya panel equipped with an indépendant power supply, likethe panel described in document FR 91/06459. This displaypanel is very useful for receiving information or dis- 10 plays on the rear face of the transparent sheet. In thiscase, the information is very bright and perfectlylegible. On the other hand, ail information applied tothe front face of the transparent sheet is not verylegible except by contrast (for example letters or 15 numbers) . Moreover, a drawing will only be barely visi-ble.

However, in a few cases, and for various reasons,the display cannot be made on the back of the transparentsheet and is thus on its front face. The object of the 20 présent invention is to create a display panel, of thetype defined above, making it possible to receive thedisplays or information on its front face, while stillexhibiting excellent illumination characteristics ofthese displays and information. 2 5 For this purpose, the invention relates to a display or indicating panel corresponding to the typedefined above, characterized in that the edge face of thesheet forming the display surface opposite that equippedwith the light source includes a reflective surface which 30 is not perpendicular to ths display surface.

The display panel according to the invention is of a particularly simple construction. It may be adisplay and indicating panel in which the light source issupplied either from the electric mains or from an 35 indépendant power supply included with it.

Depending on the shape of the cross-section of the reflective surface forming the edge face of the panel opposite the light source, there will be a uniform 2 010156 distribution of the light or a distribution modulatedacco/ding to the effects to be produced.

According to other advantageous characteristicsof the invention: the reflective surface is an inclined planesurface; the inclined surface goes virtually from one edgeof the panel to the other; the reflective surface is a curved surface.

According to the principle mentioned above, it isalso possible to produce a two-sided display and indi-cating panel formed by two transparent sheets in which inboth cases the edge opposite the distributed light sourceis a reflective surface. In general, this reflectivesurface is an oblique surface going from one edge of thepanel to the opposite edge.

Depending on the information displayed, forreasons of aesthetics or for intégration in a location,the display panel can hâve a rectangular, square orpolygonal shape, with a distributed light source on atleast two aides or a light source distributed in a mixedmanner over portions of a aide.

The présent invention will be described below ina more detailed manner with the help of the appendeddrawings in which:

Figuras 1, 2, 3 are diagrammatic sectional viewsof three examples of display and indicatingpanels according to the invention;

Figure 4 is a more detailed view of an example ofa display panel adopting the principle of theexample of Figure 1 with an independent powersupply.

According to the very diagrammatic section ofFigure 1, the invention relates to a display and indi-cating panel, such as an advertising display panel, aroad aign or a Street information panel, for which onlythe transparent sheet 1 has been shown. This transparentsheet 1 carriss on its front face the surface 2 to bedisplayed. This is, for example, a poster, a Street map, 3 010156 etc .

At the bottom part in the drawing is the lightsource 3 which illuminâtes the edge face 11 of the eheet.By définition, this edge face 11 is a surface perpen-dicular to the large faces of the sheet (and thus of thepanel), especially the face which receivea the poster orthe information 2. The other edge face 12, opposite theedge face 11, has, in cross-section, the shape of a curvewhose tangent at any point is not perpendicular to thelarge face of the transparent sheet. In the case shown,this is a concave curve which reflects the rays emittedby the light source, along the arrows indicated, to thedisplay surface 2. Depending on the shape of the curve ofthe surface 12, there will be either a uniform or a non-uniform distribution of the reflected rays, according tothe lighting effects to be obtained.

Figure 2 shows another embodiment example of theinvention. In this figure, as in Figure 3 and the follo-wing figures, the same references as in Figure 1 hâvebeen used to designate the same éléments.

In the second embodiment example, the edge face121 opposite the edge face 11 of the sheet 1 is a planeand inclined surface which reflects the rays, as isdepicted by the Unes and arrows, through the displaysurface 2 which is, as previously, the front face of thetransparent sheet 1.

The example of Figure 3 corresponds to an extremecase of the one in Figure 2, with a head-to-tail arrange-ment of two sheets.l, 1' like the one in Figure 2.

The edge face of the panel 1 opposite the edgeface 11 via which the distributed light source 3 injectelight into the sheet 1 extends from the "upper" edge ofthe sheet 1 right to its "lower" edge so that the eheet1 has, in cross-section, a triangular shape. This reflec-tive surface 122 reflects the incident light raysdelivered by the light source 3, along the arrows indi-cated, through the display surface 2.

The same applies for the other sheet 1' placedhead to tail. This other sheet 1' aleo includes a 4 010156 reflective surface 122' forming, in fact, the arris ofthe sheet opposite the arris 11' via which the lightemitted by the distributed light source 3' pénétrâtes.The light rays are sent through the display surface 2' ,as indicated. This arrangement of Figure 3 makes itpossible to produce a very thin double-sided displaypanel.

In the various drawings of Figures 1 to 3,according to a common convention, the panels are eutvertically and the light source 3 ia placed in the régionof the lower arris of the sheet, assumed to be rec-tangular or square. However, it is possible also toilluminate the sheet via one of its vertical edge faceswithout thereby modifying in any way the characteristicsof the invention.

Figure 4 shows the application of the generalsheet of Figure 1 in the embodiment of a display and/orindicating panel with an independent power supply. Thisdisplay panel 100, the display surface 102 of which is onthe front face of the transparent sheet 101, is illumi-nated by a light source 6 placed in the base of the sheetagainst its edge face 111. This light source is, forexample, a linear array of photodiodes. This light sourceS is powered from a battery 7 via a regulator 8 which isitself connected to a solar panel 9. The regulatingcircuit 11 is also connected to a connecter 9a allowingemergency power to be supplied from the alternatingmains.

Figures 5, G and 7 show three embodiment examplesof independent panels like the one in Figure 4, butdouble-sided; the upper arris of the eheets of the panelsthen correspond respectively to the embodiment ofFigures 1, 2 and 3. Thus, the upper arris of the doublepanel of Figure 5 includes a rounded upper arris 131. Thedouble display panel of Figure 6 Includes two obliqueupper arrises 141 and the display panel of Figure 7 twohighly oblique arrises 151, 151, as in Figure 3.

The various éléments of the power supply, are not detailed, these having already been described. 010156

The display panel according to Figures 4 to 7 is,in general, a panel with an indépendant power eupplywhich must be autonomous and can be arranged at anypoint, and the entire electrical installation is, in 5 general, placed in a base 106, 107, 108, 109 fonning a support.

Claims

6 010156 CLAIMS

1. Display and/or indicating panel, especially anadvertising display panel or road sign, illuminated viathe edge face from a distributed light Bource, which 5 panel is charac terized in that it is composed of thehead-to-tail combination of two transparent sheets (1,1'), the reflective surfaces (122, 122') of which go fromone side of each sheet (1, 1') to the other.
2. Display panel according to Claim 1, characterized10 in that the reflective surface is an inclined plane surface (121, 122, 122').
3. Display panel according to Claim 1, charac terizedin that the reflective surface is a curved surface (12).