JPH09310315A - Road sign - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a road sign which improves visibility at night, can be built easily and maintained easily by making the surface of the sign emit light continuously at night. SOLUTION: This road sign comprises a surface 21 of a sign which is luminous and retroreflective, a light source 3 which turns on at every prescribed time and illuminates the surface 21 of the sign intermittently, a solar battery 4 as a source of power, a secondary battery 51 which is charged with the solar battery 4 and turns on the light source 3, and a lighting start device 52 which senses the darkness around it and starts feeding power from the secondary battery 51 to the light source 3. Since the sign surface 21 is luminous and retroreflective, the retroreflectiveness and the luminousness makes the sign surface 21 brighten, reflecting light from vehicle headlights. When no light is shone on it, it brightens by emitting light because of luminousness.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a road sign having a sign function such as a regulatory sign and a guide sign.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a road sign installed on a side edge of a road has a plate-shaped body generally attached to an upper portion of a pillar vertically installed on the side edge of the road, and the surface of the plate-shaped body is A reflector such as a reflective sheet having retroreflective property is attached as a sign surface, and characters, symbols, designs, etc. are provided on the surface of the reflector to brighten the reflector with a vehicle headlight or the like. By making it bright, the markings on the sign surface at night are clearly visible.

[0003]

However, even if the above-mentioned reflector is adhered to the sign surface, this reflector does not shine brightly until it is illuminated by the headlight of the vehicle, and therefore the headlight. It is difficult to see at night if it is not illuminated with, etc.Also, although this reflector is well reflected by the driver for the light incident from the front and is clearly visible, especially the curve point, etc. When the light of the headlight is incident on the reflector from an oblique direction, it does not reflect well to the driver, and it is still difficult for the driver to see, and the visibility at night may be poor.

Therefore, in order to deal with this problem, a light-emitting diode such as a light-emitting diode or a fluorescent lamp that electrically emits light is attached, and the light-emitting body constantly lights or illuminates the marking surface to improve night visibility. Although some have been increased, commercial power is usually used as the power supply device for the light emitter, so construction and maintenance are difficult, and if this road sign is used as a sign of evacuation guidance, it will be If a power outage occurs, its visibility will be significantly reduced, which may be an obstacle to guidance during evacuation.

On the other hand, it has been proposed to apply a light-storing material to the marking surface instead of an electric light-emitting body so that the marking surface emits light without using electricity. This is because the light-storing material on the sign surface is irradiated with light such as sunlight or headlights to absorb and store these lights in the light-storing material, and a light emission phenomenon that occurs when light is gradually emitted is used. It is a thing. However, it is difficult to sustain the light emission during the night in terms of energy only by the sunlight in the daytime or the light from the headlights occasionally emitted, and the light emission may be interrupted and visibility at night may be poor.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above problems,
It is intended to provide a road sign which is improved in night visibility by continuously emitting light on the sign surface at night, and which is easy to construct and easy to maintain.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following arrangement. That is, the road sign according to the present invention, a sign surface having a luminous property and a retroreflective property, a light source that lights up at predetermined intervals to irradiate the sign surface intermittently, and a solar cell as a power source, A secondary battery that is charged by the electromotive force of a solar cell to turn on the light source, and a lighting start device that senses ambient darkness and starts power supply from the secondary battery to the light source. is there.

According to the present invention, since the sign surface is provided with the light-storing property and the retroreflective property, the retroreflective property and the light-storing property are combined so that the headlight of a vehicle or the like is attached to the sign surface particularly at night. When it is irradiated with light, it retroreflects and shines brightly, and when it is not lit, it shines brightly due to the light emission due to the light storage property. In this way, the sign surface shines brightly both when the light is illuminated and when the light is not illuminated, so that the visibility at night is excellent. Moreover, the sign surface is made to be intermittently irradiated with a light source that is turned on by a secondary battery charged with the electromotive force of a solar cell as a power source, and light energy is absorbed and accumulated with each irradiation. Therefore, the light emission due to the accumulation of light during the night is maintained without interruption, and because the solar cell is used to turn on the light source without using a commercial power source, wiring work is unnecessary and construction and maintenance are easy. In addition, since there is no power outage even in the event of a disaster, visibility is not reduced, and since the light source is turned on intermittently, power consumption is reduced and solar cells and secondary batteries are downsized. be able to.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a plate-like body 2 is attached to a support 1 provided over a road, and the surface of the plate-like body 2 has a luminous property by a luminous material and a retroreflective property by a reflector. And a sign surface 21 provided with.

Further, the light source 3 is arranged in the vicinity of the upper part of the sign surface 21 so that the sign surface 21 is illuminated from above.
Behind the sign surface 21, a solar cell 4 as a power source for generating electric power by daytime sunlight and a control box 5 are arranged. Then, in the control box 5, a secondary battery 51 that charges the electromotive force of the solar cell 4, a lighting start device 52 that senses ambient darkness and starts power supply from the secondary battery 51 to the light source 3, A control circuit 53 and the like for controlling the light source 3 to repeat lighting and extinguishing at predetermined time intervals are housed.

With this configuration, when the rechargeable battery 51 is charged with the electromotive force of the solar cell 4 in the daytime and the surroundings become dark due to sunset or the like and the lighting starting device 52 senses the darkness, the secondary battery is detected. Power from the power source 51 is supplied to the light source 3, and the light source 3 is turned on and off repeatedly by the control circuit 53 at predetermined time intervals. By intermittently irradiating the marking surface 21 with the light source 3, the energy of light is constantly absorbed and accumulated in the luminous material of the marking surface 21, and the light emission by the accumulated light is continued without interruption.

In order to form the marking surface 21 having a light-accumulating property and a retroreflective property, for example, a sheet-like material made of a synthetic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyester, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, or polycarbonate, By using a plate-like material as a base material, embedding a large number of retro-reflecting materials such as glass beads, or forming a large number of prism surfaces on the back surface of a sheet-like material or plate-like material having translucency. By forming a reflector and adhering the reflector to the surface of the plate-like body 2 and using a phosphorescent material together, a marking surface 21 provided with phosphorescence and retroreflectivity.
Can be formed.

In order to provide the luminous property by using the luminous material, the luminous material may be mixed in advance with the reflector obtained as described above as long as the retroreflectivity is not impaired. It is also possible to prepare a coating material made of a phosphorescent material, and apply the coating material so as to be scattered on the reflector while leaving a portion for retroreflection using a silk screen or the like having holes appropriately formed in a predetermined pattern. .

The phosphorescent material used for providing the phosphorescent property absorbs and stores energy of light such as sunlight and electric light, removes the light source, and then gradually emits light in a dark place to emit light. It is a fluorescent material, such as calcium,
The main components are oxides of barium and zinc, sulfides, silicates, phosphates and the like. Of these, the oxide type is particularly excellent in weather resistance and is suitable for outdoor use, and is easily stored by sunlight or other ultraviolet light, and the radiance of the emitted light can be visually recognized even before 50 m. In addition, the emission peak is generally around 520 nm, and the visibility is good as a color.

It should be noted that the marking surface 21 is provided with a marking 22 indicating the contents to be transmitted by printing or the like by using characters or figures as appropriate. For example, the name of a company or a store that advertises in advertising signs, the content indicating road regulation in road signs, the surrounding map in guide signs, the stop name in stop signs, etc. are printed, etc. . Also sign 2
The shape of 1 is not particularly limited.

The light source 3 for irradiating the marking surface 21 with light is not particularly limited, but a fluorescent lamp, a halogen lamp, or the like, but a black light lamp is preferable. The reason for this is that the black light lamp emits a large amount of ultraviolet light, which has high light energy, so that the light energy can be efficiently absorbed and stored in the phosphorescent material, and it emits almost no visible light. Even when the surface 21 is illuminated, even if snow, fog, dust, etc. are present on the sign surface 21, scattered light of visible light is not generated, and the sign surface 2 is scattered by the scattered light.
1 is not difficult to see. As the black light lamp, one that emits ultraviolet light having a wavelength of about 360 nm is particularly preferable.

A secondary battery 5 for charging the electromotive force of the solar battery 4.
In general, lead storage batteries, Ni-Cd batteries, etc. are used for 1, but they are not particularly limited. Further, the lighting start device 52
May perform the on / off operation by sensing the darkness of the surroundings with an illuminance sensor such as a photodiode or photocell, or may perform the on / off operation in response to a change in the electromotive force of the solar cell 4. However, it is not particularly limited as long as it senses the darkness of the surroundings and starts the power supply from the secondary battery 51 to the light source 3.

Further, the control circuit 53 for repeatedly turning on and off the light source 3 at a predetermined time may be formed by a timer circuit that repeatedly turns on and off at a constant time, or light emission by light accumulation. The state may be constantly detected by an illuminometer or the like, and when the illuminance on the sign surface 21 is below a certain level, the circuit is turned on to turn on the light source, and after a predetermined time, turned off and turned off. The time for turning on the light source 3 may be appropriately determined in accordance with the light storing ability of the light storing material.

Next, the form shown in FIG. 2 will be described. Although the form shown in FIG. 1 is a so-called overhang type in which the light source 3 is arranged above the sign surface 21,
The form shown in (1) is a so-called light-projection type in which the light sources 3 are arranged so as to face each other substantially in front of the sign surface 21. That is, the plate-like body 2 is attached to the upper part of the support body 1 erected on the side edge of the road, and the sign surface 21 having the light storing property and the retroreflective property is formed on the surface of the plate-like body 2. The solar cell 4, the secondary battery 51, the lighting start device 52, the control box 5 accommodating the control circuit 53, and the like are arranged on the side edge of the road away from the sign surface 21, and facing the sign surface 21. The light sources 3 are attached to the columns 6, respectively.

As in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, when the secondary battery 51 is charged with the electromotive force of the solar cell 4 in the daytime and the lighting start device 52 senses the darkness of the surroundings, the secondary battery 51 is detected. Power is supplied to the light source 3, and the control circuit 53 repeats lighting and extinguishing the light source 3 at predetermined time intervals. Due to the intermittent irradiation of the light source 3, the energy of light is constantly emitted from the marking surface 21. It is adapted to be absorbed and accumulated in the light-accumulating material so that light emission due to light accumulation is maintained without interruption.

Even if the light source 3 and the marking surface 21 are arranged apart from each other as shown in FIG. 2, if a black light lamp is used for the light source 3, the light source 3 and the marking surface 21 will be separated.
Even if there is snow, fog, dust, or the like between them, visible light is not scattered by them, and the marking surface 21 is not difficult to see, which is preferable.

[0023]

According to the present invention, since the sign surface is provided with the light-storing property and the retroreflective property, the retroreflective property and the light-storing property are combined, and the head of the vehicle is attached to the sign surface especially at night. When illuminated by light such as light, it retroreflects and shines brightly.
When it is not exposed to light, it shines brightly due to the light emission due to the light storage property. Even when the light is emitted like this,
Even when the light is not illuminated, the sign surface shines brightly,
Excellent visibility at night. Moreover, the sign surface is irradiated intermittently by the light source that is turned on by the secondary battery charged with the electromotive force of the solar cell, and the light energy is absorbed and accumulated each time it is irradiated. Luminous emission is maintained without interruption, and because the solar cell is used to turn on the light source without using a commercial power source, wiring work is unnecessary and construction and maintenance are easy. Since no power failure occurs even in the event of a disaster, visibility is not reduced, and since the light source is turned on intermittently, power consumption is reduced and solar cells and secondary batteries can be downsized.

In particular, when a black light lamp is used as a light source, a large amount of ultraviolet light having a high light energy is emitted, so that the light energy can be efficiently absorbed and accumulated in the light storing material, and visible light is absorbed. Since it emits almost no radiation, scattered light of visible light does not occur even if the sign surface is illuminated or snow, fog, dust, etc. are present on the sign surface.
The scattered light does not make the marking surface difficult to see.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Support 2 Plate-like body 21 Marking surface 22 Marking 3 Light source 4 Solar cell 5 Control box 51 Secondary battery 52 Lighting starting device 53 Control circuit 6 Support

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A sign surface having a luminous property and a retroreflective property, a light source which is turned on at predetermined intervals to irradiate the sign surface intermittently, a solar cell as a power source, and a solar cell starter. A secondary battery that is charged by electric power to turn on the light source,
A road sign having a lighting start device that senses ambient darkness to start power supply from the secondary battery to the light source. 2. The road sign according to claim 1, wherein the light source is a black light lamp.