JPH10207407A - Light guide unit and vehicle display device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To provide high brightness, uniform illumination, illumination during daytime, and to prevent the inside of a movement assembly from being seen by a user. SOLUTION: A diffuse reflection surface of a light guide path reflects ring illumination light in a light diffusion state when ring illumination light is incident from one or more external light sources via one or a plurality of incident surfaces. Reflects light that has arrived in a light-diffused state due to mirror finishing and emits it to the outside. As a result, ring illumination in an annular shape in plan view or circular arc shape in plan view is performed, and since the reflection surface for emission and the diffusion reflection surface are separated by a predetermined distance, apparent diffuse reflection from the user's point of view. surface,
That is, the light emitting surface of the ring illumination has a depth of the predetermined distance LEN, and a three-dimensional display can be performed. Further, when the external light source is turned off, it is possible to make it difficult to visually recognize the ring portion, and it is possible to give a different impression to the user when the ring is illuminated and when the ring is not illuminated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a light guide unit and a vehicle display device, and more particularly to a light guide unit and a vehicle display device used for a black face type vehicle combination meter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional vehicle combination meter. The vehicle combination meter 100 is roughly classified into a casing 102 provided with a night illumination light source (bulb bulb) 101 for performing illumination at night, an instrument group 103 for displaying a running state of the vehicle, and the like. In order to perform ring illumination of the movement assemblies 110 to 113 constituting the group 103, the meter group 103 is illuminated with ring illumination around each dial by illumination light emitted from the night illumination light source 101 and reflected by the return unit 105 described later. Light guide plate 1 for ring illumination
04, a facing unit 105 for shielding a part other than the display part such as the instrument group 103 from the user, and protecting the instrument group 103 and preventing dust and the like from entering the vehicle combination meter 100. And a front glass unit 106.

[0003] The instrument group 103 includes a speedometer unit for displaying the speed of the vehicle, a tachometer unit for displaying the number of revolutions of the engine, a fuel gauge unit for displaying the remaining amount of fuel, and cooling of the engine. And a temperature gauge unit that displays the temperature of water.The speedometer unit, tachometer unit, fuel gauge unit, and temperature gauge unit integrate a pointer, a cross-coil movement, and a dial as described below. Thus, the movement assemblies 110 to 113 are respectively constituted.

[0004] Here, movement assemblies 110-1
13 has the same configuration, the movement assembly 110 including the speedometer unit will be described as an example. FIG. 10 is a partial cross-sectional view in the assembled state near the movement assembly 110 including the speedometer unit.

[0005] A movement assembly 110 including a speedometer unit is provided with a cross-coil type movement 120 having a cross coil for driving a pointer 123 attached to a rotating shaft 120A, through which a current corresponding to the speed of the vehicle is supplied, Dial light guide plate 12 for guiding illumination light LL ′ emitted from illumination light source 101 to the dial.
1 and a dial 122 formed integrally with the dial light guide plate 121 and having characters printed or cut out in advance.

Next, the general operation will be described. A movement assembly 110 including a speedometer unit displays the speed of the vehicle based on an output signal of a vehicle speed sensor (not shown). The movement assembly 111 including the tachometer unit displays the number of revolutions of the engine based on the output signal of a not-shown number of revolutions sensor. The movement assembly 112 including the fuel gauge unit displays the remaining amount of fuel based on an output signal of a fuel sensor (not shown). The movement assembly 113 of the temperature gauge unit displays the temperature of the cooling water of the engine based on the output signal of a temperature sensor (not shown).

At the same time, a light source 101 for night illumination is used.
Is supplied, the illumination light LL ′ emitted from the night illumination light source 101 is incident on the dial light guide plate 121 constituting the movement assemblies 110 to 113, as shown in FIG. The character shines through the character print portion 122 or the cutout portion of the character.

Further, the illumination light LL 'emitted from the night illumination light source 101 is reflected by the facing unit 105, enters the ring illumination light guide plate 104, is emitted in a ring shape, and surrounds the dial 122 around the dial 122. To illuminate. More specifically, in the cross-coil type movement 120 corresponding to the speedometer unit, a current corresponding to the speed of the vehicle is passed through the cross coil, and the pointer 123 attached to the rotating shaft 120A is driven to display the speed. Will do.

In parallel with this, when the power of the night illumination light source 101 is supplied, the illumination light LL ′ emitted from the night illumination light source 101 is incident on the dial light guide plate 121 and becomes the dial 122. And the character display portion becomes brilliant. Further, the illumination light LL 'emitted from the night illumination light source 101 is reflected by the look-back unit 105, enters the ring illumination light guide plate 104, is emitted in a ring shape, and includes a movement assembly 1 including a speedometer unit.
The periphery of the ten dials 122 is illuminated in a ring shape.

[0010]

In the above-described conventional vehicle combination meter, when ring illumination is performed, reflected light is used, so that there is a problem that luminance is low and unevenness occurs.

In addition, since a light source for night illumination is used as a light source for ring illumination, there is a problem that ring illumination cannot be performed in daytime. Further, there is a problem in that the inside of the movement assembly on the back side of the look-back unit can be seen from the user via the light guide plate for ring illumination.

In addition to these technical problems,
There is a problem that the texture of the ring illumination is low in design. Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to provide a light guide unit and a display device for a vehicle, which have high luminance, can perform uniform illumination, and can perform ring illumination capable of performing illumination even in the daytime.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a light guide unit and a vehicle display device in which the inside of the movement assembly cannot be seen by a user.

[0014]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a light guide unit provided in a display device for a vehicle for illuminating a periphery of a display section of an indicating instrument with a ring. The light guide path of the light guide unit includes one or a plurality of incident surfaces on which ring illumination light is incident from an external light source, and has an annular shape in plan view or an arc shape in plan view, and a rectangular cross section. The light guide path is subjected to a mirror surface treatment, and an emission reflection surface arranged at a predetermined angle with respect to a predetermined viewing direction of the display unit, a light diffusion process is performed, and the emission reflection surface is Predetermined separation distance L
And a diffuse reflection surface that is opposed via the EN and substantially parallel to the viewing direction.

According to the first aspect of the invention, when the ring illumination light is incident on the diffuse reflection surface of the light guide path from an external light source via one or a plurality of incident surfaces, the ring illumination is in a light diffusion state. Reflects light. The emission reflection surface reflects light that has arrived in a light diffusion state due to mirror finishing and emits the light to the outside.

As a result, ring illumination in an annular shape in plan view or in an arc shape in plan view is performed. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the light diffusion process is a white paint process or a hot stamping process.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the function of the first aspect, the light diffusion processing is a white coating processing or a hot stamping processing, so that the ring is uniform and has no color unevenness. Light for illumination can be propagated. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, as the light diffusion processing, the diffuse reflection surface includes:
It is configured so that characters or patterns are printed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the characters or patterns are printed on the diffuse reflection surface as the light diffusion process. Can visually see characters or patterns along the ring when viewing the vehicle display device.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the ring illumination light is diffused between the incident surface and the external light source. A light diffusing member to be incident on the incident surface later is provided. According to the invention set forth in claim 4, in addition to the effect of the invention set forth in any one of claims 1 to 3, the light diffusing member enters the incident surface after diffusing the ring illumination light. Thus, more uniform ring illumination light can be obtained, and more uniform ring illumination without color unevenness can be performed.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a light guide unit according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, a payback unit combined with the light guide unit to form an assembly, and a light guide unit comprising the assembly. A plurality of the light sources provided corresponding to the light guide unit, the indicating instrument having a pointer and performing various displays, and a dial unit constituting the display unit.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the look-back unit and the plurality of light sources are combined with the light guide unit according to any one of the first to fourth aspects to form an assembly. The illumination light emitted from each light source is incident on the light guide unit, is emitted as ring-shaped or arc-shaped ring illumination light, and ring-illuminates the display unit including the pointer of the indicating instrument and the dial unit. .

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the vehicle display device according to the fifth aspect, the light source is a full-color LED.
. According to the invention described in claim 6,
In addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 5, since the light source is a full-color LED, ring illumination of an arbitrary color can be performed.

[0023]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. First Embodiment FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a vehicle combination meter according to a first embodiment.

The vehicle combination meter 1 is roughly classified into a casing 3 provided with a dial illumination light source 2.
An instrument group 4 for displaying the running state of the vehicle, etc .; a dial light guide plate 5 for guiding the dial illumination light CL from the dial illumination light source 2 to a dial described later; Dial 6 for performing the movement, a pointer 7 constituting the instrument group 4 integrally with the movement 4A, and a side light for ring illumination of a predetermined area (display unit) on the dial 6 corresponding to each movement 4A. Ring illumination light L emitted from a full color LED 8 which is a ring illumination light source in an edge light system
L (see FIG. 5), a ring-shaped light guide plate 9A, 9B having a ring shape, and a look-back unit 10 for shielding a portion other than the display portion such as the meter group 4 from the user.
And a front glass unit 11 for protecting the instrument group 4 and preventing dust and the like from entering the vehicle combination meter 1. In this case, the ring light guide plates 9A and 9B function as light guide units.

Each movement 4A constituting the instrument group 4
Has a speedometer for displaying the speed of the vehicle, a tachometer for displaying the engine speed, a fuel gauge for displaying the remaining fuel, and a temperature gauge unit for displaying the temperature of the engine cooling water. Configure.

Here, the full-color LED 8 corresponds to the red L
LE that can drive ED, green LED and blue LED in one package and drive each LED independently
D unit. The full-color LED 8, the ring illumination light guide plates 9A and 9B, and the facing unit 10 are integrally combined to form an assembly. As a result, it is not necessary or easy to connect and connect the rear surface of the casing 3 to a wiring board (not shown), so that the assembling operation can be facilitated and simplified.

FIG. 2 shows (a) a plan view, (b) front view, and (c) side view of the light guide plate 9A for ring illumination. As shown in FIG. 2A, the ring light guide plate 9A has a light guide path 15 having an arc shape in plan view, and is a full-color LED.
Incident surface 16 on which the ring illumination light LL from FIG.
A light-emitting reflecting surface 17 (see FIG. 2B) for emitting the ring illumination light LL incident from the incident surface 16 and the ring illumination light LL incident from the incident surface 16 for propagation. And a reflecting surface 18 for light propagation.

FIG. 3 shows the light guide plate 9 for ring illumination shown in FIG.
FIG. The ring light guide plate 9A is
As shown in FIG. 3, the reflecting surface 17 for ejection has a rectangular shape, and the reflecting surface for emission 17 is arranged at a predetermined angle (for example, 45 [゜]) with respect to a predetermined viewing direction DS, and is used as a mirror surface processing. Mirror finish is applied.

The reflection surface 18 for light propagation also functions as a diffusion reflection surface, is opposed to the reflection surface 17 for emission with a predetermined separation distance LEN, and is substantially parallel to the viewing direction DS. Is formed. Further, the light-propagating reflection surface 18 is subjected to a white coating process or a hot stamping process as a light diffusion process. Alternatively, characters, patterns, and the like are printed in addition to or instead of the white paint processing or the hot stamping processing.

In this case, the light guide plate 9 for ring illumination is used.
As the material of A, a transparent acrylic resin is used. FIG. 4 shows (a) a plan view, (b) front view, and (c) side view of the ring illumination light guide plate 9B.

As shown in FIG. 4 (a), the ring illumination light guide plate 9B has a light guide path 20 having an arc shape in a plan view, and the incident light from which the ring illumination light LL from the full-color LED 8 is incident. A surface 21 and a light-emitting reflecting surface 22 (FIG. 4) for emitting the ring illumination light LL incident from the incident surface 21.
(Refer to (b)), and a light-propagating reflective surface 23 that reflects and propagates the ring illumination light LL incident from the incident surface 21.

As a material of the light guide plate 9B for ring illumination,
Light guide plate 9B made of transparent acrylic resin for ring illumination
Similarly to the ring illumination light guide plate 9A, it has a rectangular cross section, and the exit reflection surface 22 is positioned in a predetermined viewing direction (FIG. 3).
Medium, see symbol DS) at a predetermined angle (for example, 45
[゜]), and the reflection surface for emission 22 has been subjected to mirror finishing as mirror finishing.

The light-propagating reflecting surface 23 also functions as a diffuse reflecting surface, is opposed to the emitting reflecting surface 22 via a predetermined distance, and has a predetermined viewing direction (refer to a symbol DS in FIG. 3). Are formed so as to be substantially parallel to. Further, the light guide plate 9A for ring illumination is provided on the reflection surface 23 for light propagation.
Similarly to the above, a white coating process or a hot stamping process is performed as the light diffusion process. Alternatively, characters, patterns, and the like are printed in addition to or instead of the white paint processing or the hot stamping processing.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged front view of the combination meter 1 for a vehicle in the state where the light guide plates 9A and 9B for ring illumination are mounted on the dial 6. The ring illumination light guide plate 9A is fixed to a dialing unit 10 on the dial 6 to perform ring illumination around a tachometer display section 6A formed on the dial 6.

The ring illumination light guide plate 9B is fixed on the dial 6 so as to perform ring illumination around the display unit 6B for the temperature gauge formed on the dial 6. Next, referring to FIG. 5, light guide plates 9A and 9B for ring illumination.
Will be described. In this case, since the operating principle of the ring illumination light guide plate 9A and the ring illumination light guide plate 9B are the same, only the operation of the ring illumination light guide plate 9A will be described.

Red LE constituting full color LED 8
D, the red light, the green light, and the blue light emitted from each of the green LED and the blue LED are mixed and emitted from the full-color LED 8 as ring illumination light LL. Ring illumination light LL emitted by full color LED
Is incident on the light guide path 15 from the incident surface 16 of the light guide plate 9A for ring illumination directly or after being reflected by the reflector 8A (see FIG. 6).

Then, the light is reflected by the light-propagating reflection surface 18 and propagates in the light guide path 15, and a part thereof is
The mirror surface of the reflecting surface for emission 17 is reflected with high efficiency, and is emitted to the user side (the front glass unit 11 side). As a result, assuming that ring illumination is performed in the state shown in FIG. 5, as shown in FIG. 7, the area AR9A emits light by the ring illumination light guide plate 6A, and the area AR9B emits light by the ring illumination light guide plate 6B. It will be.

In this case, the reflecting surface 18 for light propagation
Are arranged at a predetermined distance LEN from the reflecting surface 17 for emission, the apparent ring light emitting surface viewed from the user, that is, the position of the reflecting surface for light propagation, as shown in FIG. Is equal to the apparent reflecting surface for light propagation 18 '(virtual image), and is captured with a three-dimensional effect.

Further, by printing characters, patterns, and the like on the light-propagating reflection surface 18, these characters or patterns are displayed with a depth, so that various displays can be performed, and the design and design can be performed. Is also preferable. Further, when the user visually recognizes the vehicle combination meter in a state where the full-color LED as the light source is not turned on, the user once sees the light-propagating reflecting surface 18 through the reflecting surface 17 for emission. In the case of a black-face type vehicle combination meter, it becomes difficult to visually recognize the light-propagating reflection surface 18,
Since it becomes impossible to recognize the existence of the ring for ring illumination, when the full-color LED 8 is turned on and off, the impression of the meter looks very different,
Not only is it sharper, but it also has better design.

Further, the occurrence of a state in which the internal structure of the display device for a vehicle can be seen (middle appearance) is reduced. As described above, according to the first embodiment, the light source for ring illumination is provided separately from the light source for dial illumination, the light propagation distance is set short, and a high-luminance full-color LED is provided. Therefore, ring illumination with high brightness and no unevenness can be performed. As a result, the ring illumination can be applied to a blackface type vehicle combination meter.

Also, since high-luminance ring illumination can be performed,
The user can recognize the ring illumination even in the daytime. In the above description, the mounting state of the full-color LED 8 was not mentioned, but as shown in FIG. 6, a reflector 8A was mounted on the full-color LED 8, and the ring illumination light was not directed in an unnecessary direction. Since it does not leak, high-intensity ring illumination can be performed by effectively using the amount of light.

Although a full-color LED has been used as a light source for ring illumination, a normal bulb light bulb may be used. In this case, the emission color can be arbitrarily set using a filter. Second Embodiment In the first embodiment described above, the full-color LED, which is a light source for ring illumination, is directly opposed to the incident surface of the light guide plate for ring illumination. As shown in FIG. 8 as an example, a diffuser film (diffusion film) 22 for diffusing light in an optical path between the full-color LED 20 and the entrance surface of the ring illumination light guide plate 21 is provided.

As a result, a plurality of LEs of a full-color LED
By mixing the light from D more evenly, ring illumination with less color unevenness can be performed. Further, even when a normal bulb bulb is used, it can be regarded as a more uniform surface light source, and ring illumination with less luminance unevenness can be performed.

[0044]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when light for ring illumination is incident from an external light source via one or a plurality of incident surfaces, the diffuse reflection surface of the light guide path is in a light diffusion state. The light for ring illumination is reflected, and the emission reflection surface reflects the light that has arrived in a light diffusion state due to the mirror surface treatment and emits the light to the outside.

As a result, ring illumination in an annular shape in plan view or circular arc shape in plan view is performed, and the reflecting surface for emission and the diffusing reflecting surface are separated from each other by a predetermined distance LEN. The upper diffuse reflection surface, that is, the light emitting surface of the ring illumination has a depth of a predetermined distance LEN, and a three-dimensional display can be performed.

Further, when the external light source is turned off, it is possible to make it difficult to visually recognize the ring portion, and it is possible to give a different impression to the user when the ring is illuminated and when the ring is not illuminated. According to the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, the light diffusion processing is a white coating processing or a hot stamping processing, so that the light for ring illumination is uniform and has no color unevenness. , And uniform ring illumination without color unevenness can be performed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect of the first aspect of the present invention, ring illumination is performed as light diffusion processing because characters or patterns are printed on the diffuse reflection surface. In this state, when the user visually recognizes the display device for a vehicle, characters or patterns are three-dimensionally displayed along the ring, and various display modes can be realized.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the function of the first aspect of the present invention, the light diffusion member diffuses the ring illumination light to the incident surface after diffusing the ring illumination light. Since the light is incident, more uniform light for ring illumination can be obtained, and ring illumination with even more uniform color can be performed.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the look-ahead unit and the plurality of light sources are combined with the light guide unit according to any one of the first to fourth aspects to form an assembly, and are emitted from each light source. The illuminating light enters the light guide unit and is emitted as an annular or arcuate ring illuminating light to ring illuminate the indicator unit and the display unit including the dial unit. High brightness and uniform ring illumination can be performed without impairing
A vehicle indicating instrument with good design and good visibility can be configured.

According to the invention of claim 6, in addition to the effect of the invention of claim 5, since the light source is a full-color LED, ring illumination of an arbitrary color can be performed and visibility can be improved. At the same time, the design can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a vehicle combination meter according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2A is a plan view of a light guide plate 9A for ring illumination,
(B) is a front view and (c) is a side view.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the light guide plate for ring illumination 9A taken along line AA.

FIG. 4 is a (a) plan view of a ring illumination light guide plate 9B;
(B) is a front view and (c) is a side view.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged front view of the vehicle combination meter in a state in which the light guide plates for ring illumination 9A and 9B are mounted on the dial, in the middle of assembly.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an operation state of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a ring illumination state.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional vehicle combination meter.

FIG. 10 is a configuration explanatory view of a conventional movement assembly.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Combination meter for vehicles 2 Light source for dial illumination 3 Casing 4 Instrument group 5 Light guide plate for dial 6 Dial 7 Guide 8 Full color LED 9A, 9B Light guide plate for ring illumination 10 Look-up unit 11 Front glass unit 20 Full color LED 21 Ring Light guide plate for illumination 22 Diffuser film (diffusion film) LEN Distance LL Light for ring illumination

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A light guide unit provided in a display device for a vehicle for ring-illuminating a periphery of a display unit of an indicating instrument, wherein a light guide path of the light guide unit is a ring illumination light from an external light source. Has one or a plurality of incident surfaces on which light is incident, has an annular shape in plan view or an arc shape in plan view, and has a quadrangular cross section. The light guide path is subjected to a mirror surface treatment and the predetermined display is performed. An emission reflection surface disposed at a predetermined angle with respect to the viewing direction of the portion, a light diffusion process being performed, and a light diffusion surface facing the emission reflection surface via a predetermined separation distance LEN and being substantially parallel to the viewing direction. A light guide unit, comprising: a reflecting surface; 2. The light guide unit according to claim 1, wherein the light diffusion process is a white paint process or a hot stamping process. 3. The light guide unit according to claim 1, wherein a character or a pattern is printed on the diffuse reflection surface as the light diffusion process. 4. The light guide unit according to claim 1, wherein the light guide unit is provided between the light incident surface and the external light source, and diffuses the ring illumination light and then enters the light. A light guide unit comprising a light diffusing member that enters a surface. 5. The light guide unit according to claim 1, a return unit that is combined with the light guide unit to form an assembly, and a light guide unit that forms the assembly, A display device for a vehicle, comprising: a plurality of the light sources provided correspondingly; an indicating instrument having a pointer and performing various displays; and a dial unit constituting the display unit. 6. The vehicle display device according to claim 5, wherein the light source is a full-color LED.