JPH0588769B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an illumination device for an instrument mounted on the front panel of an automobile, and more specifically, it relates to an illumination device for an instrument mounted on the front panel of an automobile, and more specifically, for an instrument dial mounted on a speedometer or the like, for example, on a door. This invention relates to an instrument lighting device that incorporates an indicator that warns you if you forget to close the door.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as an illumination device for this type of instrument, for example, as shown in FIGS. A light guide plate 20 made of a transparent synthetic resin such as acrylic resin is arranged on the back side of the instrument dial (hereinafter referred to as an instrument dial), and is illuminated by transmitted light. A light guide made of transparent synthetic resin such as acrylic resin is installed on the surface side of the safety indicator 30, which is incorporated so as to be visible through the substantially fan-shaped window holes 10a and 20a formed in the instrument dial 10 and the light guide plate 20. The plate 40 is inserted into the light guide plate 2 within the window hole 20a.
A structure in which the height is the same as that of 0 is known.

According to this lighting device, light from a lighting bulb (not shown) is passed through the light guide plate 20 from the light introduction part 21 (see FIG. 4) on one end of the light guide plate 20 to the instrument dial 10 at night. While guiding the light to the back side, the light from another lighting bulb 50 installed in the housing 31 of the safety indicator 30 is guided to the front side of the safety indicator 30 through the light guide plate 40 for illumination. There is.

Here, a light guide plate 20 that illuminates the instrument dial 10
and a light guide plate 40 that illuminates the safety indicator 30 are separately formed, and a wall 3 that constitutes the housing 31 of the safety indicator 30.
The space between the light guide plates 20 and 40 is blocked by 1a to prevent light from leaking from the light guide plates 20 to 40 or from the light guide plates 40 to 20. This is for the following reason. That is, this is to make the color of the light transmitted through the instrument dial 10 different from the color of the illumination light of the safety indicator 30, or to make the brightness different even if they are the same color. In other words, the purpose is to distinguish the instrument dial 10 and the safety indicator 30, which are arranged on the same plane, depending on the illuminating light, for easy viewing.

In FIG. 6, 32 is a light emitting diode constituting the safety indicator 30, 33 is a substrate of this light emitting diode 32, 60 is a lens interposed between the light guide plate 40 and the safety indicator 30, and 70 is a meter board. It is. In addition, the light guide plate 4
A car mark is provided on the back side of 0 by printing means or the like (see Fig. 4).

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, forming the light guide plate 20 that illuminates the instrument dial 10 and the light guide plate 40 that illuminates the safety indicator 30 separately requires a large number of parts, and parts management is troublesome. Moreover, there are problems such as a large number of assembly steps and a long assembly time, and furthermore, molds for molding the light guide plates 20 and 40 must be prepared separately, which increases manufacturing costs.

As a means to solve this problem, for example, it is possible to embed a light blocking wall between the light guide plates 20 and 30 and form them integrally (insert molding). In this way, there is no need to make separate molds, and if the instrument dial 10 and safety indicator 30 are to be illuminated with a single light source, the blocking wall can be removed and molded. Although it is possible to flexibly respond to changes in the method,
There are problems such as the need for embedding the blocking wall during molding of the light guide plate, and it cannot be said to be a sufficient solution.

This invention was made to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and its purpose is to:
Not only can the instrument dial and indicators be illuminated with different colors of light, but the same color can be illuminated with different brightness, and parts management is easy.
Assembly time can be shortened, manufacturing costs can be reduced, there is no need to spend time molding the light guide plate, and it is also possible to change to a lighting method that uses a single light source. It is an object of the present invention to provide a lighting device for an instrument that can be easily made.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a meter dial and an indicator, each of which is provided with a light guide plate. In the instrument lighting device, the light guide plate of the instrument dial and the light guide plate of the indicator are connected via a bridge. It is characterized in that a triangular hole is formed in the light guide plate portion close to the bridge and on the instrument dial side and/or indicator side from the bridge.

In this invention, the term "indicator" refers to a display device that has different display content from the instrument dial,
For example, this includes a safety indicator and an A/C indicator that indicate if you have forgotten to close a car door.

(Function) The light guide plate installed on the instrument dial and the light guide plate installed on the indicator are integrally formed via a bridge, so there is no wall that constitutes the housing of the indicator in the part other than the bridge. In addition, the direction of light traveling from one light guide plate to the other light guide plate with the bridge in between is deflected by the triangular hole provided close to the bridge, and the light guide Light leakage between the plates can be prevented. Therefore, even if the light guide plate installed on the instrument dial and the light guide plate installed on the indicator are formed integrally, the meter dial and the indicator may be illuminated with different colors of light, or even if they are the same color, the brightness may vary. This makes it possible to illuminate the area differently.

Also, when lighting with the same light source,
By setting the position, width, etc. of the bridge so that light is transmitted through the bridge, it becomes possible to easily deal with changes in the lighting method.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 show an example of the lighting device of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view with the instrument dial omitted, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. The instrument dial 10, safety indicator 30, light emitting diode (LED) 32, board 33, lighting bulb 50, lens 60, and board 70 are the same as the conventional example shown in FIG. It can be omitted by adding .

The light guide plate 80 is formed with a light guide plate portion 81 that guides light that illuminates the instrument dial 10 and a light guide plate portion 82 that guides light that illuminates the safety indicator 30. The important points here are as follows. The light guide plate portions 81 and 82 are integrally formed with a bridge 83 interposed therebetween.

In addition to considering the moldability of the light guide plate 80, the number, dimensions, and formation positions of the bridges 83 are set so that light does not leak between the light guide plate portions 81 and 82. Further, a gap 84 is provided in a portion of the light guide plate 80 other than the bridge 83 to separate the light guide plate portion 81 and the light guide plate portion 82, and the housing 3 of the safety indicator 30 is disposed within this gap 84.
A wall 31a forming part 1 is interposed to isolate the light guide plate portion 81 and the light guide plate portion 82. Note that the portion of the wall 31a that spans the bridge 83 is cut out to have a width b that is slightly wider than the width c of the bridge 83.

Therefore, the light from the illumination bulb (not shown) introduced from the light guide portion 81a of the light guide plate portion 81 passes through the instrument dial 10 and illuminates it, but is transmitted to the light guide plate portion 82 side via the bridge 83. In addition, although the light guided from the illumination bulb 50 to the light guide plate portion 82 illuminates the surface of the safety indicator 30, it does not show the bridge 83 and is transmitted to the light guide plate portion 82 side. , 82 can be made to differ in color, or even the same color can have different brightness.

Note that if the width of the bridge 83 must be made wide for reasons such as moldability of the light guide plate 80,
There is a possibility that light may leak between the light guide plate parts 81 and 82, but in order to deal with this, the present invention provides a triangular hole 85 near the bridge 83, as shown in FIG.
will be established. In this way, a space with a different refractive index from the light guide plate 80 is formed by the hole 85, and light is reflected by this space (inner wall surface of the hole), for example, in the same way as when a prism is placed in the air. The light passes through the light guide plate portions 81 and 8.
Prevent leakage between the two.

In addition, in the figure, the triangular hole 85 is located on the instrument dial 10.
Although it is formed on the light guide plate portion 81 on the side, it may naturally be formed on the light guide plate portion 82 on the side of the safety indicator 30.

An automobile mark is printed on the back surface of the light guide plate portion 82, but if this printing is not possible, it may be printed on the surface of the lens 60.

In the above embodiment, the light source (not shown) of the light introduced into the light guide plate portion 81 and the light source (the illumination bulb 50) of the light introduced into the light guide plate portion 82 are made different, and the light source (not shown) of the light introduced into the light guide plate portion 82 is made different. Although we have shown a case in which light does not leak from each other, it is also possible to illuminate with a single light source. In this case, the width of the bridge 83 may be made wider so that the light can be mutually transmitted through the bridge 83.

In addition, although the case where the safety indicator 30 is incorporated as an indicator is shown, A/
Of course, a C indicator or the like may be incorporated.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the light guide plate of the instrument dial and the light guide plate of the indicator are integrally formed via the bridge, so that the instrument dial and the indicator can be illuminated with different colors of light. Light it up with
In addition to being able to illuminate the same color with different brightness, parts management is easy, assembly time can be shortened, and manufacturing costs can be reduced. It does not require much effort, and it is also easy to change the lighting method to one that uses a single light source.

In addition, by providing a triangular hole near the bridge, it is possible to completely prevent light leakage between the two light guide plate portions via the bridge.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 show an example of the lighting device of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view with the instrument dial omitted, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of the vicinity of the bridge in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 4 to 6 show the prior art, FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view, and FIG. 5 is an instrument dial FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 5. 10...Instrument dial, 30...Indicator, 8
0...Light guide plate, 81...Light guide plate portion that guides light to the instrument dial, 82...Light guide plate portion that guides light to the indicator, 83...Bridge.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A meter dial and an indicator of a meter configured by incorporating an indicator into the meter dial,
In the instrument certification device, each of which is equipped with a light guide plate, and the light guide plate of the instrument dial and the light guide plate of the indicator are guided to guide light from a light source to the light guide plates to certify the instrument dial and the indicator. and integrally formed through a bridge, and a triangular hole is formed in a light guide plate portion near the bridge on the instrument dial side and/or indicator side from the bridge. Device.