JPH08218331A - Sight-line guide - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To guide a sight line effectively, and to eliminate the waste of the electric energy by installing illluminants receiving light emitted from a light source, and linearly emitting or flickering the light along a road, and controlling the quantity of light emitted on the basis of signals from a brightness sensor, and an atmospher transmittance sensor. CONSTITUTION: One end of a tubular illuminant 2a mounted along a road is inserted into a control box 6 facing oppositely to a light source 1, and light 11 emitted from the light source 1 is caused to enter the tubular illuminant 2a from its end face, and it is reflected by the interface of a flexible tube 21 and the core 22. A part of the light is emitted from an outer circumferential surface while incident light 11 is trasmitted to the other end of the core 22 by the repetition of the relfection, and is emitted of flickered uniformly and linearly. Voltage from a power supply device is changed by a controller 5 in the control box 6 on the basis of signals from a brightness sensor 3 and an atmospheric transmittance sensor 4, and the quantity of light emitted from the light source 1 is controlled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a line-of-sight guidance device which is installed along a road such as a curve with poor visibility so as to effectively inform the driver of the road alignment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of line-of-sight guidance device,
For example, as described in JP-A-6-73715,
A light fence device is known which is composed of a light source and a light-emitting body that emits a linear light by the light from the light source, and functions as a spare guard rail that prevents an automobile or the like from jumping out of the road at night.

[0003]

Since the amount of light emitted from the light source is constant in this light fence device, the amount of light emitted from the light emitter is also constant. However, when trying to effectively guide the line of sight, the amount of emitted light necessary for the line of sight is naturally different depending on the surrounding light and darkness, the atmospheric permeability in fog, rainy weather, snow, etc., for example, when the atmospheric permeability is relatively good even at night. Can effectively guide the line of sight even if the amount of light emitted from the light-emitting body is reduced, and wastes the electric energy consumed even if the amount of emitted light is increased more than necessary.
On the contrary, at night and when the atmospheric permeability is low, the gaze cannot be effectively guided unless the emitted light amount is increased as much as possible. The light fence device does not take detailed measures such as changing the amount of light emitted from the light-emitting body by sensing the ambient light and darkness and the atmospheric transmittance, and there is a place where electric energy is consumed more than necessary. .

Therefore, the present invention solves the above problems,
Determine the necessary and optimal amount of emitted light for gaze guidance, reduce the light intensity when the visibility is relatively good, and increase the light intensity when the visibility is bad, to effectively guide the gaze and reduce the amount of electrical energy consumed. It is intended to provide a gaze guidance device that eliminates waste.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following constitution. That is, the line-of-sight guidance device according to the present invention includes a light source, a light-emitting body that is mounted along a road, receives light emitted from the light source, and linearly emits or blinks light, and a light-dark sensor that senses the surrounding light and darkness. And an air permeability sensor for detecting ambient air permeability, and a controller for controlling the amount of light emitted from the light source based on signals from both sensors.

The type of the light emitting body is not particularly limited as long as it receives light emitted from a light source and emits the received light to emit linear light. It is preferably composed of a long tube-shaped light emitting body including a flexible tube and a core housed in the flexible tube and having a refractive index higher than that of the flexible tube. Compared with other LED and other light emitters, this tubular light emitter does not require electrical wiring, so it has excellent water resistance, is easy to maintain, and has a light output that does not emit from the outer peripheral surface. The light incident from one end of the core from the light source is reflected by the boundary surface between the flexible tube and the core, and due to the repetition of this reflection, part of the light is emitted from the outer peripheral surface while being transmitted to the other end of the core. As a result, the tube-shaped light-emitting body can be made to emit light in a uniform linear shape, and the tube-shaped light-emitting body can be made thicker (outer diameter of about 5 to 20 mm) than that of the optical fiber, so that a large amount of light is incident. The amount of light emitted from the outer peripheral surface can be increased, and the emission brightness can be increased. Furthermore, this tube-shaped light emitter can be easily bent along the road, so it is easy to install, and due to its flexibility it is less likely to be damaged even if the vehicle comes into contact with it. You can change the color.

In order to emit incident light from the outer peripheral surface, it is preferable that the flexible tube is made of a translucent material because it is emitted from the entire outer peripheral surface. However, the flexible tube is made of a light shielding material. , Partially forming a light leak part,
Alternatively, the outer peripheral surface of the flexible tube made of a light-transmitting material is covered with a light-shielding material, and the light-shielding material is partially cut out to form a light leakage portion so that the light is emitted in a dot line shape. Alternatively, a part of the flexible tube made of translucent material may be covered with a light-shielding material along the longitudinal direction so that light is not emitted from the entire outer peripheral surface, but only to the side facing the driver. It may be done.

Although the boundary surface where the core and the flexible tube are in contact with each other, that is, the inner wall surface of the flexible tube may be smooth, if fine irregularities are formed, the incident light is irregular due to the fine irregularities. This is preferable because the amount of light reflected and emitted from the outer peripheral surface increases.

The material forming the flexible tube is not particularly limited as long as it is flexible and can be formed into a tube shape and has a low refractive index, but in general, Synthetic resins such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyamide, polystyrene-butadiene copolymer, butyl rubber, EPDM, acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer, fluororubber, silicone rubber, etc. are used, and silicone having a particularly low refractive index is used. Polymers and fluoropolymers are preferably used, and these materials may be used alone or in combination of two or more kinds, and may be a single layer or multiple layers.

The core is not particularly limited as long as it has a higher refractive index and a light transmitting property than the flexible tube, and a viscous liquid, a solid or a gel is usually used. . Examples of the viscous liquid or gel core include polyols such as polyethylene oxide, polypropylene oxide and glycerin, polyol esters, polyol ethers, phosphoric acid esters such as chloroethyl phosphate, dichloropropyl phosphate, liquid paraffin and fluoro oil. , Silicone oil, polyisobutylene, polysiloxane-modified polyether, an aqueous solution of an inorganic salt, a polymer solution obtained by diluting a polymer with a suitable solvent, and the like, and a solid core such as polymethylmethacrylate.

When the core is in the form of viscous liquid or gel, both ends of the flexible tube are made of a translucent material such as glass or quartz so as not to leak from the flexible tube. It is preferable that the solid core is accommodated in the flexible tube by inserting a monomer of synthetic resin into the flexible tube and polymerizing it in a properly shaped state. A preferable example of such a tubular luminous body is Ray Duck Light manufactured by Bridgestone Corporation.

The light-emitting body composed of the tube-shaped light-emitting body as described above may be mounted along the road as it is. However, when the tube-shaped light-emitting body is fitted in the transparent long protective tube and mounted, Since the tubular luminous body is not exposed to the outside and is protected by the transparent long protective tube, damage is prevented. The transparent long protective tube is not particularly limited in its cross-sectional shape as long as it has an insertion hole into which the tubular light-emitting body is inserted in the longitudinal direction, and may be divided into a plurality of pieces in the longitudinal direction. Good. The transparent long protective tube is generally formed of a hard material made of transparent resin such as colorless or colored light, synthetic resin such as polycarbonate or acrylic resin. Also, by covering a part of the transparent long protective tube with a light-shielding material, the light passing through the transparent long protective tube from the tubular light-emitting body is transmitted in a dot line shape, or the side facing the driver or the like. You may make it permeate | transmit only to.

As the light source, a halogen lamp, a metal halogen lamp, a xenon lamp, a high-intensity discharge lamp, a light emitting diode or the like is generally used, but the light source is not particularly limited. Further, the power supply device for making these light sources emit light may be a solar cell or a commercial power supply.

The light / dark sensor is not particularly limited as long as it can detect the light and dark of the surroundings and emits a signal, but an illuminance sensor such as a photo diode or a photo battery is used. Further, the atmospheric permeability sensor is not particularly limited in its type as long as it can detect the ambient atmospheric permeability and emits a signal, and for example, it is composed of a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and pulse light is emitted from the light emitting element. Emit light, count the number of emitted pulsed lights and the number of pulsed lights received by the light receiving element after the pulsed light is reflected by fog, water droplets, snow, etc., and compare the number of both pulsed lights. There is a method such as detecting the atmospheric permeability.

The controller controls the amount of light emitted from the light source on the basis of the signals from the light-dark sensor and the atmospheric transmittance sensor. This control changes the voltage of the power supply device connected to the light source, for example. Etc. In addition, the control of the light amount is, for example, 100% of the light amount in the worst visibility condition, that is, in the case of nighttime and poor atmospheric permeability, and 0 in the daytime when the atmospheric transmittance is good and normal (the light source is not emitted). It is preferable to control so that the light quantity ratio shown in Table 1 below is obtained, but the invention is not particularly limited to this.

[0016]

[Table 1]

[0017]

According to the line-of-sight guidance device of the present invention, since the light-emitting body that emits light and blinks linearly is attached along the road, the driver can be effectively informed of the road alignment and the like. It can guide the line of sight, and its luminous body emits light and blinks by receiving the light emitted from the light source and emitting the light, so it does not require electrical wiring and therefore has excellent water resistance. , Easy to maintain. Further, the amount of light emitted from the light source is controlled on the basis of signals from a light-dark sensor that senses ambient light and dark and an atmospheric permeability sensor that detects ambient atmospheric permeability, so that an optimal amount of light is emitted. Since it is done, there is no waste of electric energy and there is an energy saving effect.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be specifically described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the light emitting means used in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a front view showing an example of use of the present invention.

In the drawings, 1 is a light source, 2 is attached along a road, receives light 11 emitted from the light source 1, and emits the received light 11 to linearly emit or blink. As the light emitting body 2, a tubular light emitting body 2a is used in this embodiment. Further, 3 is a light / dark sensor that senses ambient light and dark, 4 is an air permeability sensor that detects ambient air permeability, and a voltage from a power supply device (not shown) is changed based on signals from both sensors 3 and 4. And a controller 5 for controlling the amount of light emitted from the light source 1. The light source 1 and the controller 5 are a control box 6
It is housed inside and has a light-dark sensor 3 and an atmospheric permeability sensor 4.
Is exposed to the outside of the control box 6, and the tube-shaped light emitting body 2a is attached to a beam 71 such as a guard rail or a protective fence 7 installed along a road as shown in FIG.
Mounted by 2.

The tubular light-emitting body 2a used in the present embodiment has a two-layer outer diameter 16 composed of a translucent fluororesin and a translucent polyvinyl chloride as shown in FIG.
viscous liquid core 2 in mm flexible tube 21
2 is accommodated, and both ends thereof are closed by a sealing material 23 made of quartz glass.

Then, one end of the tube-shaped light emitting body 2a is inserted into the control box 6, and one end surface of the inserted tube-shaped light emitting body 2a is opposed to the light source 1 so that the light emitted from the light source 1 is emitted. 11 is made to enter into the tubular light-emitting body 2a from the end surface. That is, the light 11 incident on the tube-shaped light emitting body 2a from the light source 1 at one end of the core 22 is reflected at the boundary surface between the flexible tube 21 and the core 22, and the incident light 11 is generated by repeating this reflection. While being transmitted to the other end of the core 22, a part of the core 22 is emitted from the outer peripheral surface, so that the core 22 uniformly emits light and blinks.

In this embodiment, a color filter 8 is interposed between the light source 1 and the end face of the tubular light-emitting body 2a, and the light 11 from the light source 1 is colored light such as red or yellow which makes it easy to recognize danger. Instead, the light is made incident on the inside of the tube-shaped light emitting body 2a, and the colored light is emitted from the tube-shaped light emitting body 2a. Further, in this embodiment, as described above,
The end surface of the tube-shaped luminous body 2a is the control box 6
The light source 1 is inserted inside and directly faces the light source 1.
Other light transmission means may be interposed between the end face of the tube-shaped light emitter 2a and the light 11 from the light source 1 is incident on the tube-shaped light emitter 2a through the light transmission means.

[0023]

According to the visual line guiding device of the present invention,
Since the luminous body that emits light and blinks linearly is attached along the road, it is possible to effectively inform the driver of the road alignment, etc., and perform effective line-of-sight guidance. Since the light emitted from the light source is received and the light is emitted and blinked by emitting the light, no electric wiring is required, and therefore the water resistance is excellent and the maintenance is easy. Further, the amount of light emitted from the light source is controlled based on signals of a light and dark sensor that senses ambient light and dark, and an air permeability sensor that detects ambient air permeability,
Since an optimum amount of light is emitted, wasteful electric energy is not consumed and there is an energy saving effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the light emitting means of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an example of use of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 light source 11 light 2 luminous body 2a tubular luminous body 21 flexible tube 22 core 23 sealing material 3 light and dark sensor 4 atmospheric permeability sensor 5 controller 6 control box 7 protective fence 8 color filter

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G08G 1/095 G08G 1/095 L 1/16 1/16 D

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A light source, a light emitter mounted along a road, which receives light emitted from the light source and emits light or blinks linearly, a light-dark sensor for detecting light and darkness of the surroundings, and surrounding atmosphere. A line-of-sight guidance device, comprising: an atmospheric permeability sensor that detects the transparency; and a controller that controls the amount of light emitted from a light source based on signals from both sensors. 2. The luminous body is a tubular luminous body,
The line-of-sight guidance according to claim 1, wherein the tubular luminous body comprises a flexible tube and a core housed in the flexible tube and having a refractive index higher than that of the flexible tube. apparatus.