JP2003014508A - Measuring instrument for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form a measuring instrument for vehicles so that the pointer indication on an approximately circular arced dial and the indication of an indication panel located inside it can be visually recognized with a sense of unification in a well balanced state. SOLUTION: A dial 40 has a circular arc guide hole 43 between an circular arced scale 41 and a dial central part 44. The middle portion in the longitudinal direction of the body 100a of a pointer 100 is supported with the top end 102 of a support shaft 100b extending in an L-shape through the guide hole 43 from the top end periphery of a pointer shaft 92 of a turning inner machine 90.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an instrument suitable for use in a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an instrument of this type, for example,
There is a measuring instrument for an automobile as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-108722. In this instrument, a display panel, which is an electro-optical indicator, is arranged directly above the central part of the annular scale graduation plate, and a pointer is provided on the scale graduation plate between the display panel and the scale graduation plate in a longitudinal shape. Let it extend,
The pointer is rotated in the circumferential direction along the surface of the scale dial.

[0003]

However, in the above instrument, since the rotating base of the pointer is hidden behind the display panel, only a part of the pointer can be seen from the front side of the display panel. Therefore, even if the pointer indicates on the scale dial, the display on the display panel is emphasized more than the instruction by the pointer. Moreover, since the pointer is interposed between the scale dial and the display panel, an annular step is formed between the scale dial and the display panel. As a result, there is also a problem in that there is no sense of unity between the indication display by the pointer on the scale dial and the display on the display panel, and there is a problem that the display is messy.

In view of the above, the present invention addresses the above-mentioned problems by providing a sense of unity between the pointer display on the substantially arc-shaped scale portion and the display on the inner peripheral side of the pointer on the substantially arc-shaped scale. The purpose is to be able to see with a good balance.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the vehicle instrument according to the invention as set forth in claim 1, a scale board (40), a rotating inner unit (90), a pointer (100) and a display panel. (60) is provided, and the graduation plate is a translucent graduation plate central part (44), a substantially arc-shaped graduation part (41) integrally formed along the outer periphery of the graduation plate central part, and the graduation part and the translucent part. It has a guide hole part (43) formed in an arc shape along the inner circumference of the scale part between the central part of light and the display panel, and the display panel is provided side by side in the center part of the scale plate. Information is displayed through the central portion of the dial, and the rotating inner unit is an inner unit body (91) provided on the back side of the display panel.
And a pointer shaft (92) rotatably extending from the inner unit main body toward the back surface of the display panel, and the pointer has a support shaft (100b) extending from the pointer shaft through the guide hole portion, A pointer main body (100a) is supported on the extending distal end portion (102) of the support shaft so as to extend in the longitudinal direction toward the graduation portion side on the surface of the graduation plate.

As described above, since the pointer main body of the pointer is entirely exposed on the surface of the graduation plate, the instruction on the scale portion by the pointer main body is given by the entire length of the pointer main body. Therefore, the display by the display panel is not emphasized with respect to the instruction by the pointer main body, and the instruction by the pointer main body can be viewed in a balanced and equal manner together with the display by the display panel.

Further, as described above, in the scale plate, the guide hole portion is formed between the scale portion and the central portion of the scale plate. The pointer main body of the pointer is supported by the tip of the support shaft extending from the pointer shaft of the rotating internal machine through the guide hole, and is exposed on the surface of the graduation plate over its entire length. In other words, the surface of the graduation portion for the pointer main body to give the instruction and the surface of the central portion of the graduation board displayed by the display panel are located in the same plane without any step. Therefore, the indication on the surface of the scale portion by the pointer main body and the display on the surface of the central portion of the scale plate by the display panel can be visually recognized with a sense of unity.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 2, in the invention described in claim 1, the pointer main body extends at the rear portion (104) onto the surface of the central portion of the dial. Is characterized by.

According to this, in the pointer, the pointer main body extends at the rear portion onto the surface of the central portion of the dial and is exposed on the surface of the dial for the entire length thereof, and is supported by the support shaft. Since it does not appear to be supported by the pointer shaft on the back side of the dial, the pointer body can be visually recognized as if it is floating above the surface of the dial. As a result, according to the invention as set forth in claim 2, not only the function and effect of the invention as set forth in claim 1 can be achieved, but also the pointer can provide novel visibility with an interesting point.

According to the invention described in claim 3, in the invention described in claim 1 or 2, from the respective annular portions along the inner peripheral portion and the outer peripheral portion of the guide hole portion on the back surface of the scale plate, Ring-shaped shielding walls (80
a, 80b).

As a result, both shield walls shield the back side of the guide hole of the instrument. As a result, according to the invention described in claim 3, it is of course possible to achieve the same effect as the invention described in claim 1 or 2, and the member located on the back side of the scale plate of the instrument is , It is not visible from the front side of the dial through the guide hole.

The reference numerals in parentheses of the above means indicate the correspondence with the specific means described in the embodiments described later.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show an example of a passenger car instrument according to the present invention. This instrument is arranged as a tachometer on an instrument panel provided in a passenger compartment of the passenger car.

The instrument is a casing 1 having a U-shaped cross section.
0, an annular dial plate 20, and a front panel 30 in a housing, a graduation plate 40, a light guide plate 5 for the graduation plate.
0, liquid crystal panel 60, liquid crystal panel light guide plate 70, both inner and outer arcuate shield walls 80a, 80b, rotating inner unit 9
0, a pointer 100, a wiring board 110, a plurality of light emitting diodes 120 for a light guide plate, and a plurality of light emitting diodes 130 for a liquid crystal panel.

As shown in FIG. 2, the dial plate 20 is constructed by forming a bottom wall 20b at the base end of the peripheral wall 20a so as to have an L-shaped cross section. The dial plate 20 has an outer periphery of the bottom wall 20b. Part is attached to the opening 11 of the casing 10. The front panel 30 is attached to the tip end opening 21 of the peripheral wall 20a of the dial plate 20 at the outer periphery thereof,
The front panel 30 has a function as a black face.

The scale plate 40 is a bottom wall 20 of the dial plate 20.
It is provided side by side from the back side of the opening 22 formed in b. As shown in FIG. 1, the graduation plate 40 has a substantially arc-shaped graduation portion 41 and a rotation speed unit display portion 42 that calibrate the rotation speed of the engine of the passenger car. The scale portion 41 is provided in a substantially arc shape along the inner circumference of the opening 22 of the dial plate 20, and the scale portion 41 is composed of a plurality of scales 41a and a plurality of numbers 41b.
Further, the rotation speed unit display portion 42 is provided along the lower portion of the inner periphery of the opening 22 of the dial plate 20 in FIG.

In the present embodiment, each graduation 41a and each number 4 of the graduation portion 41 are provided on the outer peripheral portion of the graduation board 40.
Inside the outline of each character 1b and the rotation speed unit display section 42
Except for the inside of each outline of each letter and symbol, it is a non-translucent dark color. The insides of the outlines of the respective scales 41a and the respective numbers 41b of the scale unit 41 and the insides of the respective outlines of the characters and symbols of the rotation speed unit display unit 42 are transparent.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the graduation plate 40 is provided with a guide hole 43, and the guide hole 43 is a portion of the graduation plate 40 along the inner circumference of the graduation 41. Is formed in a substantially arc shape. Here, a central portion 44 of the scale plate 40 located on the center side of the guide hole portion 43 (hereinafter referred to as the scale plate central portion 44) is transparent.

The light guide plate 50 is a scale portion 4 of the scale plate 40.
The light guide plate 50 is formed in a circular arc plate shape so as to correspond to No. 1.
1 is provided along the arc direction of the scale portion 41. As a result, the light guide plate 50 guides the incident light from the back surface side thereof as described later and guides the light to the scale plate 4.
The zero scale part 41 is emitted from the back surface thereof.

The liquid crystal panel 60 is provided along the central portion 44 of the graduation board on the back side thereof.
Is, depending on the incident light from the back side as described later,
Driven by a liquid crystal panel drive circuit (not shown),
The vehicle speed of the passenger car is displayed digitally. The light guide plate 70 is
It is attached from the back side along the liquid crystal panel 60,
The light guide plate 70 guides light, which is incident from the back surface side thereof, as will be described later, and enters the liquid crystal panel 60 from the back surface side thereof.

The inner shield wall 80a is arranged on the scale plate 40 on the rear side thereof at right angles to the rear face and along the inner peripheral portion of the guide hole portion 43, while on the other hand, the outer shield wall 80b.
Are arranged on the graduation plate 40 on the back surface side thereof at right angles to the back surface and along the outer peripheral portion of the guide hole portion 43.
As a result, both the shielding walls 80a and 80b are attached to the scale 40.
Plays a role of substantially shielding the wiring board 110 and the like located on the back surface side of the guide hole portion 43.

The rotating inner unit 90 includes an inner unit main body 91 and a pointer shaft 92. The inner unit main body 91 corresponds to the graduation plate 40 and has a bottom wall (shown in the figure) inside the casing 10. Is not installed). The pointer shaft 92 is the inner unit body 9
1 through the through hole portion 111 of the wiring board 110 and the light guide plate 70.
Rotatably extends to the back side of the. In addition, the turning internal unit 9
At 0, the inner unit main body 91 rotates the pointer shaft 92 in accordance with the rotation speed of the engine of the passenger car.

The pointer 100 is a long pointer body 100a.
And an L-shaped support shaft 100b. Support shaft 10
0b is supported at its base end portion 101 on the outer peripheral portion of the tip end of the pointer shaft 92 of the rotary inner machine 90.
Extends from the base end portion 101 along the back surface of the light guide plate 70 in parallel toward the back surface side of the guide hole portion 43, and is bent in an L-shape between the shield walls 80a and 80b and the guide hole portion 43. Extending through. As a result, the support shaft 100b rotates in accordance with the rotation of the pointer shaft 92, and the extension tip portion 102 thereof moves inside the guide hole portion 43 along the arc direction.

The pointer main body 100a is supported at an intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction thereof by the extending distal end portion 102 of the support shaft 100b at a right angle thereto and along the radial direction of the scale 40. As a result, in the pointer main body 100a, the tip portion 103 of the pointer main body 100a extends to the front surface side of the scale portion 41, and the rear portion 1
04 is positioned so as to extend to the surface side of the central portion 44 of the dial.

The wiring board 110 is supported by the end surface of the inner unit body 91 so as to be parallel to the back surface of the light guide plate 70.
The plurality of light emitting diodes 120 are arranged so that the wiring board 11 faces the scale portion 41 of the scale board 40 via the light guide plate 50.
The light emitting diodes 120 are arranged along the outer peripheral portion of the surface 0 at intervals in an arc shape, and the respective light emitting diodes 120 emit light into the light guide plate 50 from the back surface thereof. The plurality of light emitting diodes 130 are arranged at intervals on the surface of the wiring board 110 along the vicinity of the axis of the pointer shaft 92, and each of the light emitting diodes 130 emits light into the light guide plate 70 from its back surface. Inject light.

In the present embodiment having the above-described structure, when the plurality of light guide plate light emitting diodes 120 and the plurality of liquid crystal panel light emitting diodes 130 emit light, the light from each light emitting diode 120 enters the light guide plate 50. It is incident from the back side. Then, the light guide plate 50 guides the incident light and makes it incident on the scale portion 41 and the rotation speed unit display portion 42 of the scale plate 40 from the back surface thereof. Along with this, the incident light passes through the scales 41a and the numbers 41b of the scale unit 41 and the letters and symbols of the rotation speed unit display unit 42, so that the scales 41 and the rotation speed of the scale board 40 are transmitted. The unit display section 42 is illuminated. It is assumed that the passenger car is in a running state.

As described above, when the plurality of liquid crystal panel light emitting diodes 130 emit light, the light from each of the light emitting diodes 130 enters the light guide plate 70 from the back surface thereof. Then, the light guide plate 70 guides the incident light to pass through the liquid crystal panel 60 and the central portion 44 of the graduation plate. Therefore, the liquid crystal panel 60 digitally displays the vehicle speed of the passenger car through the central portion 44 of the scale board under the drive of the liquid crystal panel drive circuit.

Further, the rotating internal unit 90 rotates the pointer shaft 92 in accordance with the number of rotations of the engine of the passenger car, and the pointer 1
The support shaft 100b of 00 rotates in response to the rotation of the pointer shaft 92, and moves the extending tip end portion 102 in the guide hole portion 43 of the scale 40 in the arc direction. Along with this, the pointer main body 100a rotates along the surface of the scale 40 in accordance with the movement of the extending tip portion 102 of the support shaft 100b, and indicates the rotation speed of the engine on the scale portion 41. .

As described above, both the rotation number instruction by the pointer main body 100a on the surface of the scale portion 41 and the digital display of the liquid crystal panel 60 through the central portion 44 of the scale board can be visually recognized through the front panel 30.

Here, as described above, the pointer main body 100a of the pointer 100 is exposed on the surface of the graduation plate 40, including the rear portion 104, so that the engine speed is increased. The instruction is given by the entire length of the pointer main body 100a. Therefore, the digital display by the liquid crystal panel 60 is not emphasized with respect to the rotation speed instruction by the pointer main body 100a, and the rotation speed instruction by the pointer main body 100a can be visually recognized in a balanced and equal manner together with the digital display by the liquid crystal panel 60.

Further, as described above, in the scale 40, the guide hole 43 is formed between the scale 41 and the center 44 of the scale. The pointer main body 100a of the pointer 100 extends from the tip end portion of the pointer shaft 92 of the rotating internal unit 90 through the guide hole 43 in an L shape.
The scale 4 is supported by the tip of b and extends over its entire length.
It is exposed on the surface of 0. In other words, the pointer body 10
The surface of the graduation portion 41 for indicating the rotational speed 0a and the surface of the central portion 44 of the graduation board on which the liquid crystal panel 60 digitally displays the vehicle speed are located in the same plane without a step. Therefore, the rotation speed instruction on the surface of the scale portion 41 by the pointer main body 100a and the vehicle speed digital display on the surface of the central portion 44 of the scale board by the liquid crystal panel 60 are displayed.
It can be visually recognized with a sense of unity.

Further, as described above, in the pointer 100, the pointer main body 100a extends at the rear portion 104 onto the surface of the central portion 44 of the dial, and extends over the entire length thereof on the surface of the dial 40. Since it is exposed and does not appear to be supported by the pointer shaft 92 on the back surface side of the dial 40 by the support shaft 100b, the pointer main body 100a is suspended above the surface of the dial 40. Can be seen as.
As a result, the pointer 100 can provide interesting and novel visibility.

In implementing the present invention, various light sources such as lamps and cold cathode ray tubes may be adopted instead of the light emitting diodes 120 and 130.

In implementing the present invention, the liquid crystal panel 60 is not limited to this, and may be a display panel such as an EL panel or a panel having a VFD.

In implementing the present invention, unlike the above embodiment, the graduation portion 41 of the graduation board 40 is a graduation portion for calibrating the vehicle speed of the passenger car, and the liquid crystal panel 6 is used.
The present invention may be applied to an instrument in which 0 is a digital display of the engine speed.

In implementing the present invention, the scale 4
0 is, for example, on the surface of a transparent resin sheet such as polycarbonate (a plate thickness of about 0.5 mm), each graduation of the graduation section 41, each number and the symbols and characters of the rotation speed unit display section 42 and the center of the graduation board. It may be configured by forming an opaque print layer except for the portion corresponding to the portion 44. Further, the printing layer may be formed to include the portion corresponding to the central portion 44 of the graduation plate, and the portion corresponding to the central portion 44 of the graduation plate may be thinly transmissive printed.

In implementing the present invention, the liquid crystal panel 60 may display not only the vehicle speed but also the traveling distance of the passenger vehicle, the warning display, and the simple navigator display.

In implementing the present invention, the scale plate 4
The scale part 41 of 0 may be formed to be opaque including each scale and each number, and the light guide plate 50 and each light emitting diode 120 may be omitted.

In implementing the present invention, the guideline 100
May be a light emitting pointer in which the pointer main body 100a is formed of a light guide material and light is emitted from the rear end surface of the pointer main body 100a by a light emitting diode so that the pointer main body 100a emits light.

In carrying out the present invention, the present invention is not limited to passenger car measuring instruments, but may be applied to automobile and other vehicle measuring instruments.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway front view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

40 ... Scale board, 41 ... Scale section, 43 ... Guide hole section, 4
4 ... Central part of scale plate, 60 ... Liquid crystal panel, 90 ... Rotating inner unit, 91 ... Inner unit body, 92 ... Pointer shaft, 100 ... Pointer, 1
00a ... pointer body, 100b ... support shaft, 102 ... extended front end, 104 ... rear end, 80a, 80b ... shielding wall.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Katsuhiro Kumazawa             1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya city, Aichi stock market             Inside the company DENSO (72) Inventor Masato Minakata             1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Toyota Auto             Car Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 3D044 BA14 BA21 BB01 BD01

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A scale plate (40), a rotating internal unit (90),
The scale plate includes a pointer (100) and a display panel (60), and the scale plate includes a central portion (44) of the transparent scale and a substantially arc-shaped scale portion (41) integrally formed along the outer periphery of the central portion of the scale plate. ) And a guide hole portion (43) formed in an arc shape along the inner circumference of the graduation portion between the graduation portion and the light-transmissive center portion. The central part of the graduation board is provided on the back side of the graduation board to display information through the central part of the graduation board. The rotating internal unit includes an internal unit main body (91) provided on the rear side of the display panel. A pointer shaft (92) extending rotatably from the inner unit main body toward the back surface of the display panel, and the pointer includes a support shaft (100b) extending from the pointer shaft through the guide hole portion. , So that it extends longitudinally on the surface of the graduation plate toward the graduation part side. A pointer body (100a) supported by the extending tip (102) of the support shaft
An instrument for a vehicle comprising: 2. The vehicular instrument according to claim 1, wherein the pointer main body extends at the rear portion (104) onto the surface of the central portion of the dial. 3. An annular shielding wall (80a, 80b) extending from the respective annular portions along the inner peripheral portion and the outer peripheral portion of the guide hole portion on the rear surface side of the rear surface of the dial to the rear surface side thereof. The vehicle instrument according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: