JPH09207672A - Rearview mirror for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To visually confirm the rear of a vehicle and the lower side of a rearview mirror at the same time, and obtain a natural and logical image as a whole with little distortion of the image. SOLUTION: A rearview mirror for a vehicle is so constructed that a rear visible area 2 for visually confirming the rear, a lower visible area 3 for visually confirming the lower dead ground, and a joining area 4 for joining the above areas 2, 3 to each other by a curve are provided on the mirror surface 1a side of the rearview mirror main body 1 formed by one sheet mirror. In this case, the rear visible area 2 and the lower visible area 3 are respectively formed by a circular curve having each designated radius, and the joining area 4 is formed by such an involute curve that the upper end is connected to the curve of the rear visible area 2 and the lower end is connected to the curve of the lower visible area, so that an image is gently changed near the boundaries among the areas 2, 3, 4 so as to obtain a natural image with little distortion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rear-view mirror for a vehicle which has good visibility behind the vehicle and below the rear-view mirror.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a wide-view rearview mirror mounted on a large vehicle such as a truck or a bus has been used to visually recognize the rear safety from both sides of the vehicle from the driver's seat. Since the curvature is constant, it is not possible to visually recognize the lower side surface corresponding to the front wheel portion in particular, so that accidents involving the front wheels frequently occur. For this reason, conventionally, a rearview mirror for visually recognizing the lower side of the vehicle is mounted separately from the rearview mirror for visually recognizing the rear of the vehicle.However, since there are a plurality of rearview mirrors, a large amount of space is required for mounting. In addition, since the rear-view mirror mounting structure is complicated, there is a problem in that it is expensive.

In order to improve such a problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 60
No. 215446 (Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-20818),
A vehicle rearview mirror has been proposed in which a rear blind portion and a lower blind spot portion can be visually recognized by an integrated rearview mirror. As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle rearview mirror disclosed in the above publication has a rearview mirror main body a formed in a vertically long rectangular shape.
A rear visual recognition area b occupying a substantially upper half of the area, a lower visual recognition area c that is a small area located below the rearview mirror body a, and is arranged between the lower visual recognition area c and the rear visual recognition area b, It is divided into three zones, a joint zone d that connects the two. The vertical curve of the rear visual recognition area b is a circle having a radius r ₁ from the point O ₁ to M on the perpendicular m to the curved surface passing through the point M near the lower portion of the rear visual recognition area b, and the joining area. d is a point O ₂ to a point O ₃ on the perpendicular m
To a curved surface whose radius gradually changes from r ₂ to point r _3, and the vertical curve of the downward visual recognition area c is a point O on the perpendicular line m.
Each of them is formed to have a circular shape having a radius of ₃ to the distance r ₃ .

[0004]

However, in the vehicle rearview mirror of the above-mentioned publication, the connecting portions (boundary portions) of the rear visual recognition area b, the lower visual recognition area c and the joining area d are the respective areas b, c,
Since the images are connected in the tangential direction of different circles of d, the distortion of the image at the boundary can be corrected considerably, but the correction of the distortion is not sufficient, and the continuity of the images in each area b, c, d Since it is insufficient, there is a problem that an unnatural image is formed and visibility is deteriorated. The present invention has been made to improve such a problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a rear-view mirror for a vehicle, which is provided with a joining area in which distortion and unnaturalness of images in the rear-viewing area and the lower-viewing area are less likely to occur. It is intended.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is such that a rear visual recognition area for visually recognizing the rear is provided on the mirror surface side of a rearview mirror body composed of one mirror, and a lower visual recognition area. In a vehicle rearview mirror provided with a downward visual recognition area for visually recognizing a blind spot and a joining area for joining these areas with a curved line, the rear visual recognition area and the downward visual recognition area are formed by circular curves each having a predetermined radius. The joining area is formed by an involute curve whose upper end is continuous with the curve of the rear visual recognition area and whose lower end is continuous with the curve of the lower visual recognition area.

With the above construction, in the invention of claim 1, the image reflected in each area of the rearview mirror body is distorted near the boundary,
Since there is no abrupt change, it is possible to visually recognize an image that is close to nature and improve the visibility.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the rear visual recognition area and the downward visual recognition area are formed in the upper and lower portions of the rearview mirror body which is long in the vertical direction.

With the above construction, in the invention of claim 2, the rear of the vehicle can be visually recognized in the upper part of the rearview mirror body, and the blind spot below the rearview mirror can be visually recognized in the lower part.

Further, in the invention of claim 3, the rear visual recognition area and the downward visual recognition area are formed on the left and right sides of the rearview mirror body which is long in the left-right direction.

With the above arrangement, in the invention of claim 3, the rear of the vehicle can be visually recognized on the left or right side of the rearview mirror, and the blind spot below the rearview mirror can be visually recognized on the right or left side of the vehicle.

On the other hand, in the invention of claim 4, the rear visual recognition area and the lower visual recognition area are formed in the diagonally upper portion and diagonally lower portion of the rearview mirror body which is long in the diagonal direction.

With the above construction, in the invention of claim 4, the rear of the vehicle can be seen in the obliquely upper part of the rearview mirror body, and the blind spot below the rearview mirror in the obliquely lower part can be visually recognized as a natural image.

Further, in the invention of claim 5, the directions of the rear visual recognition areas which are orthogonal to each other are curves of equal radius, and the directions of the joining areas which are orthogonal to each other are an invoshoot curve and a curve of radius having the same curvature. , And the directions of the lower visual recognition areas which are orthogonal to each other are formed by curves of equal radius.

With the above structure, in the invention of claim 5, the visibility in the vertical and horizontal directions, the diagonal vertical and horizontal directions, and the horizontal direction can be simultaneously improved.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings shown in FIGS. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the rear-view mirror body, and FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a rearview mirror body, which has a vertically elongated slender rectangular shape with its mirror surface 1a side curved up and down, and is wholly integrally formed of a material such as inorganic glass or acrylic resin. Rearview mirror body 1
On the mirror surface 1a side, approximately 1/2 of the upper side is a rear visual recognition area 2 for visually recognizing the rear of the vehicle, and approximately 1/4 of the lower side is a lower visual recognition area for visually recognizing the lower side of the rearview mirror body 1, and A joint area 4 is provided between the rear visual recognition area 2 and the lower visual recognition area 3. Note that, in FIG. 2, the boundaries between the areas 2, 3 and 4 are shown by broken lines for convenience, but the broken lines are not actually visible.

In FIG. 3, the radius R of the rear visual recognition area 2
_First , ₁ and the center A thereof, and the radius R ₂ of the downward visible area 3 and the center B thereof are determined. At this time, the difference between the radius R ₁ and the radius R ₂ needs to be set larger than the distance between the points A and B. As a result, an involute curve continuous from a circle having a radius R ₁ centered on the point A to a circle having a radius R ₂ centered on the point B is uniquely determined. That is, in order to satisfy the characteristics of the involute curve, the angle θ ₁ is determined from the following equation. AB = (R ₁ −R ₂ ) sin θ ₁ / θ _{1 Further,} by determining the radius R ₁ and the radius R ₂ and the angle θ ₁ , the radius R _{3 of the} circle C passing through the points A and B according to the following equation.
Is determined. R ₃ = (R ₁ −R ₂ ) / 2θ ₁ Here, when the center of the circle C is O, the angle AOB is 2θ.
It becomes ₁ .

The angle θ _{1 at} this time is an angle formed by the tangent line between the straight line AB and the circle C at the point B, and the point D at the tangential direction distance R ₁ is the lower end of the rear visual recognition area 2. This straight line A
An arbitrary angle θ ₂ is determined above D, and the point at the distance R ₁ is set as E and is set as the upper end of the rearward visible section 2. The angle θ ₂ is determined within a range in which the rear side can be visually recognized sufficiently. A tangent to the circle C is drawn at the point B, and the point at the line distance R ₂ is F,
This point F is the upper end of the downward visual recognition area 3. When a point G having an arbitrary angle θ ₃ and a radius R ₂ is determined downward from the straight line BF, this point G becomes the lower end of the downward visual recognition area 3. The angle θ ₃ is set within a range in which the lower side can be visually recognized sufficiently.

According to the above construction, the curve connecting the lower end D of the rear visual recognition area 2 and the upper end F of the lower visual recognition area 3 coincides with the radius R _{1 at the} point D portion and the radius R ₂ at the point F portion.
And the involute curve (circle inflection line) that agrees with.
That is, for example, when the tangent line is drawn from the point H ₁ located at the distance h from the point B on the arc AB, the curve DF has a distance of R _h = (R ₂ + h) on the tangent line from the point H _1. It is formed by connecting certain points H ₂ . The curve DF draws a curve that gradually changes between the radius R _{1 at the} point D and the radius R _{2 at the} point F.

In the above embodiment, the rear-view mirror main body 1 is formed to be long in the up-down direction, but it is formed to be long in the left-right direction so that the rear view area 2 is on the left or right side or the down view area 3 is on the right or left side. May be formed, and the rear visual recognition area 2 may be provided on the diagonal upper portion of the rearview mirror body 1 which is diagonally long, and the lower visual recognition area 3 may be provided on the diagonal lower portion.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the rearview mirror body 1 has a rectangular shape that is long in the vertical direction, but may have a shape other than the rectangular shape, for example, a circular shape, a rectangular shape, an oval shape, an oval shape, or the like.

On the other hand, in the above embodiment, the case where each of the sections 2, 3 and 4 of the rearview mirror main body 1 is curved in one direction has been described, but at the same time, each section 2 is also curved in the direction orthogonal to the curved line. , 3 and 4 are convex spherical surfaces, the visibility in the up, down, left, right and diagonal directions can be improved at the same time.

That is, the directions of the rear visual recognition area 2 orthogonal to each other are curved with equal radii, the directions of the junction area 4 are orthogonal to each other with an invoshoot curve and a curve having a radius equal to this, and downward. By forming the directions of the visible area 3 orthogonal to each other with curved lines having the same radius, the visibility in the up, down, left, right, and diagonal directions is also improved, so that the safety of the vehicle can be enhanced.

Further, in order to widen the field of view of the rear-view mirror for a vehicle during use, it is preferable that the rear-view mirror has a curved structure in the vertical and horizontal directions rather than only in the vertical direction.
Not only the areas 2, 3, 4 are simply divided in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, but in a rearview mirror mounted on the right side of the vehicle, for example, the downward visual recognition area 3 is a triangular area biased to the left side close to the driver side. For example, by changing the shape according to the use site, it is possible to further eliminate the blind spot around the vehicle.

[0024]

[Examples] Next, specific dimensions of the examples described in the above embodiments will be described. 1400mm radius R ₁ of the rear-view area 2 of the rearview mirror body 1, and the radius R ₂ of the lower viewing zone 3 to 400 mm, the angle theta ₁
Is about 2 °. Also, the angle θ ₂ of the rear visual recognition area ₂ is 4
°, the angle theta ₃ lower viewing zone 3 can be a 7 °. The rearview mirror body 1 that satisfies the above condition has a length of about 2
It becomes 15 mm, and about 100 mm above it is the rear visual recognition area 2, about 65 mm in the middle is the joining area 4, and 50 mm below.
Is the downward visual recognition area 3. The width of the rearview mirror body 1 can be about 110 mm. Needless to say, the dimensions of each part in the above embodiment are not limited to these values.

[0025]

As described above in detail, the present invention provides a vehicle rear view in which a rear visual recognition area, a downward visual recognition area, and a joining area between these areas are provided on the mirror surface side of the rearview mirror body composed of one mirror. In the mirror, the rear visual recognition area and the lower visual recognition area are set to curved surfaces where the rear and lower visual areas are easily visible, and the joining area provided between these areas is set to the curved surfaces of the rear visual recognition area and the lower visual recognition area. Since it is formed by a continuous involute curve, the image reflected in each area of the rear-view mirror body is close to nature with little distortion and gentle image change.

As a result, the visibility of the rear part and the lower part of the vehicle is further improved, which contributes to the safe driving of the vehicle, and the rearview mirror body is formed so that the joining area between the rear visual recognition area and the lower visual recognition area becomes an involute curve. Since it is only necessary to mold, it can be provided at the same price as a conventional rearview mirror.

By mounting the rearview mirror body on the vehicle so that the rear visual recognition area is on the upper side and the lower visual recognition area is on the lower side, the visibility of the rear upper portion of the vehicle and the lower portion of the rearview mirror body is improved, and the vehicle width is increased. A large rearview mirror body can be attached to a vehicle without increasing the size in the direction.

Further, by mounting the rearview mirror main body on the vehicle so that the rear visual recognition area is on the left or right side and the lower visual recognition area is on the right or left side, it is possible to visually recognize the rear direction and the lower direction only by moving the line of sight in the horizontal direction. Therefore, it is not necessary to swing the head up and down to check the back and the lower side, and fatigue during driving can be reduced.

On the other hand, by mounting the mirror body on the vehicle so that the rear visual recognition area is diagonally upward and the lower visual recognition area is diagonally downward, the visibility in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction can be improved and each area can be Not only in one direction,
By making the direction orthogonal to the curved line the same curved line, the visibility in the vertical and horizontal directions and the diagonal vertical and horizontal directions can be improved at the same time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a conventional vehicle rearview mirror.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a vehicle rearview mirror according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view of the vehicle rearview mirror according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Rearview mirror body, 1a ... Mirror surface, 2 ... Rear view area, 3 ... Down view area, 4 ... Joining area.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A rear visual recognition area 2 for visually recognizing the rear, a lower visual recognition area 3 for visually recognizing a lower blind spot, and these areas 2, 3 on the mirror surface 1a side of a rearview mirror body 1 made of one mirror.
In a rear-view mirror for a vehicle, which is provided with a joining area 4 that joins with each other by a curved line, the rear-viewing area 2 and the lower-viewing area 3 are formed by circular curves each having a predetermined radius, and the joining area 4 is formed at an upper end. The vehicle rearview mirror is characterized by being formed by an involute curve which is continuous with the curve of the rear visual recognition area 2 and whose lower end is continuous with the curve of the lower visual recognition area 3. 2. The rearview mirror for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a rear visual recognition area 2 and a lower visual recognition area 3 are formed on an upper portion and a lower portion of a rearview mirror body 1 which is long in the vertical direction. 3. The rear-view mirror for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a rear visual recognition area 2 and a downward visual recognition area 3 are formed on the left and right of a rear-view mirror body 1 which is long in the left-right direction. 4. The rear-view mirror for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a rear visual recognition area 2 and a lower visual recognition area 3 are formed in an obliquely upper portion and an oblique lower portion of a rearview mirror body 1 which is long in an oblique direction. 5. The directions of the rear-viewing area 2 orthogonal to each other are curves of equal radius, and the directions of the joining area 4 orthogonal to each other are an invoshoot curve and a curve of radius having the same curvature, and downward. The vehicle rear-view mirror according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, wherein the directions of the visible areas 3 orthogonal to each other are formed by curved lines having an equal radius.