JP2803707B2 - Self-luminous pointer type instrument - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a self-luminous indicator type instrument.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The structure of a self-luminous pointer type instrument using an FPC is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-66601 (conventional example 1). In this technique, the self-luminous indicator is mounted on the movement as follows.

A long plate-shaped FPC on which a plurality of LEDs are mounted
And the spiral FPC are integrally connected via a connection FPC. First, the spiral FPC is wound around the outer periphery of the boss of the pointer and temporarily fixed. Then, the phototropic lens is fitted into the groove at the upper part of the housing, and a cover body is further covered from above, and the locking projection is locked and locked in the locking recess at the lower part of the housing.

Next, a self-luminous pointer is fixed on the pointer shaft by pressing a pointer shaft protruding above the movement into a hole of the boss portion. Then, the temporary fixation of the spiral FPC wound around the outer periphery of the boss portion is released, and the spiral FPC is connected and fixed to the terminal plate on the movement such that the spiral FPC maintains a spiral state at a predetermined interval.

Another technique for assembling the self-luminous pointer type instrument is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-271818 (prior art 2). In this technique, the hands are passed upward from the dial opening.

[0006]

However, the above-mentioned prior arts have the following problems. In the conventional example 1, the spiral F is provided in a slight gap between the dial and the movement.
It is necessary to remove the temporary fixing of the PC and to connect and fix the outer end of the spiral FPC to the terminal plate, which is very poor in assemblability.

[0007] A long plate-shaped FP on which a plurality of LEDs are mounted
Since it is necessary to assemble the movement with the C and spiral FPC integrally connected, it is necessary to pay close attention to the handling of the assembled body (because it is easy to collapse) and to discard if assembly fails a lot.

In the conventional example 2, as shown in FIG. 10, it is necessary to mount the decoration plate 901 and then to release the hands 903 and the like from the dial opening 902 upward, which is very poor in assemblability.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a self-luminous pointer type instrument which does not require any troublesome management of parts before assembly. A second object of the present invention is to provide a self-luminous pointer type instrument excellent in assemblability.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems,
The present invention employs the following configuration. (1) An inner machine having a shaft that rotates in response to an input signal, a light emitting element that emits light when energized, and a pointer terminal electrically connected to the light emitting element, and a pointer fitted to the shaft. And a flexible band arranged in the inner machine so as to spiral around the shaft, forming a conductive path from the inner peripheral end side to the outer peripheral end side, and providing an inner peripheral side terminal on the inner peripheral end side. And a first power supply fitting having a lower part electrically connected to the inner peripheral side terminal and an upper part electrically connected to the pointer terminal.

(2) An instrument body in which a shaft that rotates in response to an input signal is protruded, and a second power supply fitting for fixing an outer peripheral side terminal of a flexible band, which will be described later, is insulated and arranged; A boss fitted to the tip of the boss, a rod-shaped pointer extending in the orthogonal direction from the boss tip, a light emitting element that emits light when energized, and a pointer terminal that is electrically connected to the light emitting element and extends in the base direction of the boss. A pointer having a conductive path is formed from the inner peripheral end side to the outer peripheral end side, and an inner peripheral terminal and an outer peripheral terminal are provided at a base end side and a distal end side of the conductive path, respectively. A flexible band arranged so as to swirl, and an insulator having a mounting portion for fixing the inner peripheral end side of the flexible band, and being inserted into the shaft and rotating integrally with the shaft, Fix the inner peripheral end of the flexible band to the mounting part Rutotomoni, bottom electrically connected to the inner peripheral side terminal, first the upper is connected the pointer terminals electrically
And a power supply fitting.

(3) With the configuration described in (2) above, the pointer terminal of the pointer has a plate-like shape that can be inserted into the holding portion of the first power supply fitting, and the mounting portion of the insulator includes A flat surface for contacting an inner peripheral end of the flexible belt;
A recess for inserting a power supply fitting, wherein the first power supply fitting has a holding portion for holding the inserted pointer terminal;
A resilient portion extending from the holding portion or provided independently and configured to resiliently press an inner peripheral end of the flexible band against the flat surface.

(4) The configuration of the above (2), wherein the pointer terminal of the pointer has a plate shape that can be inserted into the holding portion of the first power supply fitting, and the mounting portion of the insulator is the (1) a recess for inserting a power supply fitting;
The power supply fitting has a crimping portion for sandwiching the inner peripheral end of the flexible band and performing thermocompression, a clamping portion for clamping the inserted pointer terminal, and a resilient portion for resiliently pressing the recess.

(5) With the configuration of (3) or (4) above, a lance is provided on the back side of the first power supply fitting, and a hook portion for hooking the lance is provided on the mounting portion.

[0015]

[Action and effect of the invention]

[Invention 1] The inner machine is provided with a shaft that rotates in response to an input signal. The pointer has a light emitting element that emits light when energized, and the light emitting element is electrically connected to a pointer terminal provided on the pointer side. The flexible belt is arranged inside the inner machine so as to spiral around the shaft, forms a conductive path from the inner peripheral end side to the outer peripheral end side, and has an inner peripheral side terminal provided on the inner peripheral end side.

The first power supply fitting has a lower part electrically connected to the inner peripheral terminal and an upper part electrically connected to the pointer terminal. In addition, power is supplied to the light emitting element through the outer peripheral end of the conductive path, the conductive path, the inner peripheral side terminal, the first power supply fitting, and the pointer terminal.

In this configuration, the presence of the first power supply fitting allows
The pointer and the flexible belt can be assembled separately.
For this reason, management of parts (guides, flexible belts, etc.) before assembling is not troublesome, handling of parts during assembling becomes easy, and manufacturing cost can be reduced.

The instrument main body has a shaft that protrudes in accordance with an input signal, and a second power supply fitting for fixing the outer peripheral side terminal of the flexible belt is insulated and arranged. I have. The pointer has a boss fitted to the tip of the shaft, a pointer, a light emitting element that emits light when energized, and a pointer terminal that is electrically connected to the light emitting element and extends toward the boss proximal end.

The flexible belt is arranged so as to spiral around the shaft, forms a conductive path from the inner peripheral end side to the outer peripheral end side, and has inner and lower end portions on the base end side and the distal end side of the conductive path, respectively. A peripheral terminal and an outer peripheral terminal are provided.

The insulator has a mounting portion for fixing the inner peripheral end side of the flexible band, and is inserted and attached to the shaft to rotate integrally with the shaft. In the first power supply fitting, the inner peripheral end side of the flexible belt is fixed to the mounting portion, the lower part is electrically connected to the inner peripheral terminal, and the upper part is electrically connected to the pointer terminal.
In addition, the second power supply fitting, the outer peripheral side terminal, the conductive path, the inner peripheral side terminal,
Power is supplied to the light emitting element via the first power supply fitting and the pointer terminal.

In this configuration, the presence of the first power supply fitting allows
The pointer and the flexible belt can be assembled separately.
For this reason, management of parts (guides, flexible belts, etc.) before assembling is not troublesome, handling of parts during assembling becomes easy, and manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Claim 3] With the inner peripheral end of the flexible belt positioned on the flat surface of the mounting portion, the first power supply fitting is inserted into the recess of the mounting portion of the insulator. When inserted, the resilient portion of the first power supply bracket presses the inner peripheral end of the flexible band against the flat surface of the mounting portion.

After disposing the dial on the instrument main body, the boss is pressed into the tip of the shaft, and the plate-like pointer terminal is inserted into the holding portion of the first power supply fitting. The holding portion of the first power supply fitting holds the inserted pointer terminal.

Since the flexible band can be set on the insulator first (before the dial is attached), the outer peripheral side terminal of the flexible band can be fixed to the second power supply fitting of the instrument main body in a wide place. Excellent in nature.

Since the hands can be fitted to the tip of the shaft later, there is no need to make the hands open the dial opening, and the assemblability is excellent. When the elastic portion extends from the holding portion, the inner peripheral end of the mounting portion is formed by the force of the elasticity of the elastic portion itself and the deformation of the elastic portion caused by insertion of the pointer terminal into the holding portion. Press down on a flat surface. This configuration,
This is suitable when the thickness of the pointer terminal is small.

When the elastic portion is provided independently of the holding portion, the inner peripheral end is elastically pressed against the flat surface of the mounting portion by the elasticity of the elastic portion itself. This configuration is suitable when the thickness of the pointer terminal is slightly thick.

[Claim 4] The inner peripheral end of the flexible band is sandwiched between the crimping portions and thermocompression-bonded. 1st thermocompression bonding of flexible belt
The power supply fitting is inserted into the recess of the mounting portion of the insulator. When inserted, the elastic portion of the first power supply fitting presses the recess of the insulator, and the first power supply fitting with the flexible band thermocompression-bonded thereto is fixed to the insulator.

After disposing the dial on the instrument main body, the boss is pressed into the tip of the shaft, and the plate-like pointer terminal is inserted into the holding portion of the first power supply fitting. The holding portion of the first power supply fitting holds the inserted pointer terminal. Since the hands can be fitted to the tip of the shaft later, it is not necessary to make the hands open the dial, and the assembling property is excellent.

Since the flexible band is thermocompression-bonded to the first power supply fitting, there is very little possibility that the flexible band comes off the first power supply fitting.

[Claim 5] A lance is provided on the back side of the first power supply fitting, and a latching portion for latching the lance is provided on the mounting portion of the insulator.
After inserting the power supply fitting, the first power supply fitting can prevent the insulator from coming off the mounting portion.

[0031]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention (Claims 1, 2, 3, 5)
Will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1 and the like, the vehicle speedometer J includes a movement 1 having a shaft 11, a fixer plate sub-assembly 2 screwed to the movement 1, a pointer 3 fixed to the tip of the shaft 11, and a shaft 11. Helically wound FP
C4, an insulator 5 which is inserted into the shaft 11 and rotates integrally, metal terminals 6, 6 (first power supply fitting), and a dial 7 are provided. )). Note that the movement 1, the fixer plate sub-assembly 2, and the insulator 5 correspond to an inner machine, and the movement 1 and the fixer plate sub-assembly 2 correspond to an instrument main body.

The movement 1 is of a cross coil type,
It includes a housing 12, a drive coil 13, a control coil 14, a hair spring 15, and the like. When an input is applied by a drive circuit (not shown), a rotational torque is applied to the shaft 11 (see FIG. 1).

When the vehicle speedometer J is in operation, the shaft 11 receives the rotation torque, the hair spring 15 and the FPC.
4 comes to rest at the point where the elastic force is balanced. The housing 12 is formed of plastic or the like, and has a screw hole 12.
1 are provided.

The fixer plate sub-assembly 2 includes:
The main part is formed of a resin such as PBT which is excellent in rigidity and heat resistance, and is slightly larger than the insulator 5, the circular part 21, the movement mounting parts 22, 22, and the terminal assembling part 2.
3 and fixer terminals 25, 25 to be mounted on the terminal mounting portion 23.
(Second power supply fitting) (see FIG. 1).

The circular portion 21 has a flat shape, and has a hole 201 in the center where the hair spring 15 faces. The slightly thicker movement attachment portion 22 extends around the outer periphery of the circular portion 21 and has communication holes 221 and 222. Circular part 21
The terminal assembling portion 23 extending around the outer periphery of the housing has a groove 231 and a cylindrical portion 232 for assembling the fixer terminal 25.
Having.

The fixer terminals 25, 25
4 has a crimping portion 251 for crimping the outer peripheral end 44, a hooking portion 252 fixed to the groove 231, and a cylindrical portion 250 having a triangular cross section to which a pin (not shown) is fitted. The fixer terminal 25 is formed by applying copper plating as a base plating on phosphor bronze as a base material, and then tin plating (or solder plating) thereon.

The tin plating is applied to prevent the formation of an oxide film (having an insulating property) on the copper surface by air and to promote the formation of a diffusion layer during thermocompression bonding, which will be described later. . The cylindrical portion 250 is electrically connected to a pointer lighting circuit (not shown) by a covered wire (not shown) in which a pin (not shown) is crimped to the tip.

The crimping portion 251 has tongue pieces 253 and 254 having an inverted C-shaped cross section, a groove 255 formed by a U-shaped lateral bending, a punch surface 256 punched by the hot punch 28, And a contact surface 257 with which the tool 27 contacts.

The metal terminal 6 (made of phosphor bronze), whose surface is tin-plated and has the same orientation and the same shape, has a front plate portion having an elastic contact portion 611 having an arc-shaped cross-section and having a substantially rectangular cross-section. 61 and a rear plate portion 62 formed with a rectangular lance 621
And a horizontal plate portion 63 bent forward from the rear plate portion 62 (see FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4).

The upper portions of the front plate portion 61 and the rear plate portion 62
Each of the holding portions 60 is bent outwardly.
In addition, arc-shaped surfaces 612 and 622 are formed on the upper part of each plate portion that is bent in the outward direction in order to enhance the pinchability.

The pointer 3 comprises a boss 31 and a rod-shaped pointer 3
2 and LED chips 33, 33,...
3 and lead frames 34, 34 for energizing the LED chips 33, 33... 33 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).
The boss 31 (polycarbonate) has a cylindrical shape and has a shaft hole 311 into which the shaft 11 fits.

The pointer 32 (polycarbonate) extends orthogonally from the tip of the boss 31 and
4, 34 are inserted. In addition, a phototropic lens 321 is disposed on the upper surface in order to increase the brightness. LED
The chips 33, 33...
Are bonded over the lead frame 3
4 and 34.

Lead frames 34, 34 (made of phosphor bronze)
Is a thin plate having a thickness of 0.2 mm,
Are exposed in an L-shape, and serve as pointer terminals 341 and 341 for insertion into the metal terminals 6 and 6.

The lead frames 34, 34 are LED
Silver plating is applied to the entire surface to ensure the bonding strength of the chip 33. Note that the pointer terminals 341 and 341 have
Further, tin plating is applied on silver plating. This is because silver is easily sulfided by air, and when sulfurized, an insulating film is formed on the surface.

Since the pointer terminals 341 and 341 serve as contact points of the connector, tin plating, on which an insulating film is hardly formed, is applied to improve the contact reliability.

The FPC 4 is formed by printing and printing copper foils 42, 42 (conductive paths) on the surface (outer peripheral side of the vortex) of a polyimide base film 41, and has a spiral spring characteristic (FIG. 1). , FIG. 2, FIG. 3). However, the inner peripheral end 43 and the outer peripheral end 44 are formed linearly.

Note that tongue pieces 431 and 432 for electrically connecting to the fixer terminals 25 and 25 project downward from the inner peripheral end 43 of the base film 41, and electrically connect to the terminals 6 and 6 from the outer peripheral end 44. Collars 441 and 442 project downward.

The copper foil 42 is provided with an insulating cover coat (polyimide resin) except for portions located at the inner peripheral end 43 and the outer peripheral end 44. Copper foil 4 located at inner peripheral end 43
2 has copper plating 421 (shown in FIG. 4B).

The copper foil 42 located at the outer peripheral end 44 includes
Copper plating is applied to the base and solder plating is applied to the finish. still,
The solder plating is performed to prevent an oxide film (having an insulating property) from being formed on the copper surface by air and to promote the formation of a diffusion layer during thermocompression bonding described later.

Insulator 5 (made of polyacetal)
Is an FPC guide unit 51 for guiding the FPC 4,
FPC mounting part 52 for mounting the inner peripheral end of the head 4, and a disk part 53 arranged so as to leave a predetermined gap with the hair spring 15.
(See FIGS. 1, 2 and 3).

The disk portion 53 serves to prevent the hair spring 15 from jumping when the hair spring 15 vibrates, thereby preventing generation of abnormal noise. FP
The C guide 51 includes a flat back surface 511, an arc-shaped surface 512 for guiding the FPC 4, a pin 513, and a shaft 11.
, And protrudes upward from the disk portion 53 in the figure.

The back surface 511 of the FPC guide 51 (flat;
The FPC mounting portion 52 extending rearward from the flat surface)
A mounting table 52 on which the inner peripheral end 43 is mounted when assembling C4.
1, 522, 523, concave portions 524, 525 in which the tongue pieces 431, 432 fit, and a partition wall 526.

Here, the FPC 4 is applied to the insulator 5.
And how to assemble the metal terminals 6 and 6 will be described.
FIG. 3 shows a state before the FPC 4 is assembled, and FIGS. 1, 2, and 5 show states after the FPC 4 is assembled. 1, 3, and 4 (a) show the state before the metal terminals 6, 6 are assembled, and FIGS. 2, 4 (b), 5 and the like show the states after the assembly.

[Assembly of FPC 4] As shown in FIG. 3, the inner peripheral end 43 of the insulator 5 is
Fit into PC mounting part 52. For positioning in the vertical direction, the lower surfaces 433, 434, and 435 of the inner peripheral end 43 are placed on the mounting table 52.
1, 522, and 523. Also, FP
Positioning of the C4 in the longitudinal direction (lateral direction) is performed by fitting the flanges 441 and 442 of the FPC 4 into the concave portions 524 and 525.

Next, the elongated hole 45 formed in the curved portion of the inner peripheral end 43 is press-fitted and fixed to the pin 513. Subsequently, the inner peripheral end 43 of the FPC 4 is pressed and held from behind in the shaft direction using a jig (not shown). The jig is removed after the metal terminal 6 is assembled.

[Assembly of Terminal 6] Connecting material (FIG. 3)
Metal terminals 6, 6 connected by
Into the recesses 524 and 525 of the insulator 5 to separate the connecting member. In addition, two metal terminals 6,
The interval of 6 is set in advance to the interval of the concave portions 524 and 525 of the insulator 5.

The metal terminals 6, 6 are connected to the insulator 5
When fitted into the concave portions 524 and 525 of the
The front plate portion 61 is deformed, and the elastic contact portion 611 represses the copper plating 421 surface of the FPC 4.

Also, the metal terminals 6, 6
As shown in FIG. 2, the lances 621, 621 have recesses 524,
This is accomplished by being hooked in 525. The horizontal plate 63 and the rear plate 62 of the metal terminal 6 prevent the backlash.

Next, the assembly of the entire vehicle speedometer J will be described with reference to FIG. (1) The screws 26 are screwed into the screw holes 121 via the communication holes 221 and 221, and the fixer plate 2 is fixed to the movement 1. (2) Next, the insulator 5 is pressed from above to press-fit the shaft 11 into the shaft hole 514 and fix it. The positional relationship between the shaft 11 and the insulator 5 at the time of this press-fitting is, for example, 40 km / h for each coil of the movement 1.
The shaft 11 is positioned by applying a considerable electric input, and the mounting position of the metal terminals 6, 6 of the insulator 5 is opposite (180 °) to the 40 km / h scale of the dial 7, that is, on the rear end side of the pointer 3. To become.

(3) Next, the inner peripheral end 43 and the metal terminals 6, 6 are assembled to the insulator 5 as described above. Then, the outer peripheral end 44 of the FPC 4 is heat-pressed to the fixer terminals 25, 25. This will be described in detail later.

(4) Next, the dial 7 is fixed to the fixer plate 24.
Attach to Specifically, the screw 16 is inserted through the communication hole 222 of the fixer plate 24 and screwed to a boss 71 having a screw hole 711 provided on the back surface of the dial 7.

(5) Next, the shaft 11 is pressed into the shaft hole 311, and the pointer 3 is inserted into the shaft 11 of the movement 1.
Is fixed. In addition, simultaneously with this fixing, the pointer terminals 341 and 3
41 is plugged into the metal terminals 6,6.

When press-fitting the shaft 11 into the shaft hole 311, each coil of the movement 1
The shaft 11 is rotated by applying an electrical input equivalent to / h so that the display position of the pointer 32 matches the scale of 40 km / h on the dial 7.

Therefore, the pointer terminals 341 and 341 are inserted into the metal terminals 6 and 6 at the same time when the pointer 3 is pressed and fixed to the shaft 11.

Next, the pointer terminal 34 made of a thin plate (0.2 mm) is used.
The reason why the metal terminals 1, 341 and the metal terminals 6, 6 are fixed with a strong contact pressure will be described with reference to FIG. Before the metal terminals 6, 6 are mounted on the insulator 5, the holding portion 60 is open as shown in FIG. 4A due to springback during press molding.

When the metal terminals 6, 6 are mounted on the insulator 5, the holding portion 60 is closed by deformation of the front plate portion 61, as shown in FIG. When the pointer terminals 341 and 341 are inserted into the closed position, the holding portions 6
0 is pushed open to deform the front plate portion 61, and the elastic contact portion 611 is formed.
Strongly presses against the inner peripheral end 43, so that a strong contact pressure is obtained.

Next, the outer peripheral end 4 of the FPC 4 omitted in (3)
The procedure of No. 4 for the thermocompression bonding to the fixer terminals 25, 25 will be described. By rotating the insulator 5, the FPC 4 is brought downward in the figure (see FIG. 5). At this time, press-fitting and fixing of the insulator 5 to the shaft 11 and attachment of the metal terminals 6, 6 and the inner peripheral end 43 to the insulator 5 have already been completed.

The flange 442 of the outer peripheral end 44 is inserted and positioned in the groove 255 of the fixer plate 24 on the right side in the figure (see FIG. 5). Next, the outer peripheral end 44 is bent as shown by an arrow 40 in FIG.
Similarly, the flange 441 of the outer peripheral end 44 is located on the left side in FIG.
(See FIG. 2) in the groove 255 of the fixer terminal 25 for positioning.

Receiving a rectangular parallelepiped so that the side surface 271 contacts the contact surface 257 of the left fixer terminal 25 in the figure and the rear surface 272 contacts the contact surface 257 of the right fixer terminal 25 in the right figure. The tool 27 is set (see FIG. 5).

Next, simultaneously with the hot punches 28, 28 heated by heating, the fixer terminals 25, 2
5 is punched, and the flanges 441 and 442 are thermocompression-bonded to the fixer terminals 25 and 25. FIG. 6 shows the state after thermocompression bonding.

The reason why the FPC 4 is pressed against the inner wall surface of the groove on the punch surface 256 side and separated from the inner wall surface of the groove on the contact surface 257 side (see FIG. 6) is as follows.

[Reason] Copper foil 4 printed on FPC4
Since 2 and 42 are thin, they are not deformed by the hot punches 28 and 28. Also, the base film 41 does not deform. Then, the punch surface 25 is formed by springback.
When the inner wall surface of the groove on the 6 side returns, the inner wall surface of the groove on the contact surface 257 side comes into contact with the base film 41, so that no joining occurs.
Leave.

Next, advantages of this embodiment will be described. [A] Since the metal terminals 6 are used, the hands 3 and the FPC 4 can be assembled in a separated state. For this reason, the parts (indicator 3, FPC 4) before assembling do not lose their shape, so that there is no need for troublesome parts management, handling of the parts during assembling becomes easy, and manufacturing costs can be reduced.

[A] The FPC 4 can be set on the insulator 5 before the dial 7 is attached.
The outer peripheral end 44 of the PC 4 can be fixed to the fixer terminal 25, and the assembling property is excellent.

[C] Since the pointer 3 can be fitted to the tip of the shaft 11 after the dial 7 is attached, as in the prior art,
This eliminates the need for cumbersome work such as attaching a pointer to the dial opening, and is excellent in ease of assembly.

[D] The front plate portion 61 (pressing portion) is
, The pointer terminal 341 is held by the holding portion 60.
, The holding portion 60 is spread out and the front plate 61
Is deformed, and the elastic contact portion 611 strongly presses the inner peripheral end 43. Therefore, even if the pointer terminal 341 is a thin plate (0.2 mm),
The pointer terminal 341 and the metal terminal 6 are fixed with a strong contact pressure, and can be prevented from coming off.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention (Claim 1,
2, 3, and 5) will be described with reference to FIG. The vehicle speedometer according to the present embodiment includes a pointer terminal 341 (lead frame 34).
And the structure of the metal terminals 6 and 6 are different from those of the first embodiment as follows, and the other parts are the same as those of the first embodiment.

The thickness of the pointer terminal 341 (lead frame 34) of the pointer 3 is larger than that of the first embodiment (0.4 m).
m or more).

As shown in FIG. 7, the metal terminal 6 (made of phosphor bronze) has a rear plate portion 62 on which a rectangular lance 621 is formed.
A pressure contact portion 64 having a resilient contact portion 641 curved forward in a direction from the bottom edge of the rear plate portion 62 and having an arc-shaped cross section, and a horizontal plate portion 63 bent forward from an outer edge of the rear plate portion 62; And a front plate portion 61 bent laterally from the front edge of the horizontal plate portion 63.

The upper portions of the front plate portion 61 and the rear plate portion 62
Each of them is bent outwardly to form the holding portion 67.
In addition, arc-shaped surfaces 612 and 622 are formed on the upper part of each plate portion that is bent in the outward direction in order to enhance the pinchability.

The structure of the metal terminal 6 has, in addition to the advantages [A] to [C] described above, an advantage (1) that is suitable when the thickness of the pointer terminal 341 is large. The reason is shown below.

At the time of non-insertion, the thickness of the pointer terminal 341 is large (0.4 m
m or more), the holding portion 67 can obtain a sufficient deflection at the time of inserting the pointer 3 to obtain a predetermined contact pressure. In addition, holding section 6
The maximum stress (applied to the curved portion 642) generated when the pointer 7 is pushed out by the pointer terminal 341 can be reduced.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention (Claim 1,
2, 4 and 5) will be described with reference to FIG. The vehicle speedometer according to the present embodiment includes the structure of the inner end 43 of the FPC 4, the shape of the metal terminals 6, 6, and the metal terminals 6, 6, and the FP.
The connection structure with C4 and the structure of the FPC mounting portion 52 of the insulator 5 are different from those of the first embodiment as described below, and the other parts are the same as those of the first embodiment.

The metal terminals 6 and 6 are connected to the FPC guide 5
1 has a front plate portion 65 that represses the rear surface 511 and a rear plate portion 62 that has a lance 621 for preventing slippage and presses the front surface 527.
And a front plate portion 65 having a U-curved portion 661 for crimping the FPC 4
And a crimping portion 66 extending outwardly from

In this embodiment, the FPC mounting portion 52 does not have the mounting table portions 521, 522, and 523, but has only the concave portions 524 and 525 for engaging the lance 621.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
It is located between the front plate 65 and the rear plate 62. Also, the inner peripheral end 43
Does not have tongue pieces 431,432. And the inner peripheral end 43
A solder plating (not shown) for crimping is applied to the copper foil 42 located at the crimping portion 66 of the above. Further, the copper foil 42
An insulating cover coat (polyimide resin) is applied except for the portion located at the crimp portion 66 and the outer peripheral end 44.

Next, assembly of the FPC 4 and the metal terminals 6 to the insulator 5 will be briefly described. The inner peripheral end 43 of the FPC 4 is inserted between the front plate portions 65, 65 and the rear plate portions 62, 62, and positioned as shown in FIG.

A receiving jig is set on the front side of the crimping section 66, and punching is performed by hot punching from the U-curved section 661 side (may be divided into left and right simultaneously or twice), and the FPC 4 and the metal terminals 6, 6 are separated. Electrically and mechanically connected (heat welding).

Next, the FPC 4 is connected to the metal terminals 6 and 6.
Is press-fitted into the insulator 5 and fitted. The cross section AA and the cross section BB after the fitting are shown in FIG.
(B) and (c).

This embodiment has the following advantages in addition to the advantages according to [A] to [C] described above. [F] The connection between the inner peripheral end 43 of the FPC 4 and the metal terminals 6, 6 and the connection between the outer peripheral end 44 of the FPC 4 and the fixer terminals 25, 25 are all performed by heat compression. For this reason, the electrical conduction is good for a long period of time (because the connection portion does not cause conduction failure) and the vehicle does not come off due to the vibration of the vehicle.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention (Claim 1,
2, 3 and 5) will be described with reference to FIG. First
From the embodiment to the third embodiment, a plurality of LED chips 33 are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the pointer 32 (lead frame 3).
4, 34), a one-way assembling structure of a self-luminous pointer that utilizes light emitted upwards {the dial 3 is attached before the pointer 3 is fitted} is proposed. However, the above-described one-way assembly structure can also be applied to a light guide type self-luminous guide shown below.

The vehicle speedometer of this embodiment has only the structure of the pointer 3
As described below, different from the first embodiment, other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment. In FIG. 9, the pointer 32 is formed of a transparent resin such as acrylic or polycarbonate, and an LED lamp 35 is disposed behind the pointer 32. The rear ends of the pointer terminals 341 and 341 are soldered to the lamp leads 351 and 351.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an assembly diagram of a vehicle speedometer according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the vehicle speedometer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram near an insulator of the vehicle speedometer according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a metal terminal used for a vehicle speedometer according to the first embodiment of the present invention before the insulator is mounted (a) and after the insulator is mounted (b).

FIG. 5 is an enlarged top view of the vehicle speedometer according to the first embodiment of the present invention before FPC crimping.

FIG. 6 is a top view of the vehicle speedometer according to the first embodiment of the present invention after FPC pressure bonding.

FIG. 7A shows a vehicle speedometer according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
It is a perspective view which shows the structure (before mounting) of a metal terminal,
(B) is sectional drawing which shows the structure (after mounting) of a metal terminal.

FIG. 8A is an assembled view of a vehicle speedometer according to a third embodiment of the present invention before assembling a metal terminal to which an FPC is crimped; FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA after assembling;
(C) is a sectional view taken along line BB after assembly.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a vehicle speedometer according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention in which the present invention is applied to a light-guided self-luminous indicator.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing the assembling of a vehicle speed meter according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Movement (inner machine, instrument main body) 2 Fixer plate subassembly (inner machine, instrument main body) 3 Pointer 4 FPC (flexible band) 5 Insulator 6 Metal terminal (first power supply fitting) 11 Shaft 25 Fixer terminal (No. 2 Power supply fittings) 31 Boss 32 Pointer 33 LED chip (light emitting element) 41 Base film (insulating flexible band) 42 Copper foil (conductive path) 43 Inner peripheral end 44 Outer peripheral end 52 Mounting part 60, 67 Nipping part 66 Crimping part 341 Pointer terminal 431, 432 Tongue piece (inner peripheral terminal) 441, 442 Flange (outer peripheral terminal) 511 Back (flat surface) 524, 525 Concave (concave) 621 Lance

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Michiyuki Noba 1-1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya-shi, Aichi Japan Inside of Denso Co., Ltd. (56) References -286868 (JP, A) JP-A-6-66601 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01D 13/28 G12B 11/04

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. An internal machine having a shaft that rotates in response to an input signal, a light emitting element that emits light when energized, and a pointer terminal electrically connected to the light emitting element. A flexible guide disposed inside the inner machine so as to swirl around the shaft, forming a conductive path from the inner peripheral end to the outer peripheral end, and providing an inner peripheral terminal at the inner peripheral end. A self-luminous pointer-type meter having a band and a first power supply fitting having a lower part electrically connected to the inner peripheral terminal and an upper part electrically connected to the pointer terminal. 2. An instrument body in which a shaft that rotates in response to an input signal is protruded and a second power supply fitting for fixing an outer peripheral side terminal of a flexible band, which will be described later, is insulated and arranged. It has a boss fitted to the tip, a rod-shaped pointer extending in the orthogonal direction from the tip of the boss, a light emitting element that emits light when energized, and a pointer terminal that is electrically connected to the light emitting element and extends in the base direction of the boss. The pointer and a conductive path are formed from the inner peripheral end side to the outer peripheral end side, and an inner peripheral side terminal and an outer peripheral side terminal are provided on a base end side and a distal end side of the conductive path, respectively. A flexible band arranged in a swirling manner, an insulator having a mounting portion for fixing an inner peripheral end side of the flexible band, being inserted into the shaft and rotating integrally with the shaft, Fix the inner peripheral end of the flexible belt to the mounting part Together, the lower is electrically connected to the inner peripheral side terminal, the self-luminous pointer-type meter top comprises a first feeding metal for electrically connecting with said pointer terminal. 3. The pointer terminal of the pointer has a plate shape that can be inserted into a holding portion of the first power supply fitting, and the mounting portion of the insulator contacts an inner peripheral end of the flexible belt. And a recess for inserting the first power supply fitting. The first power supply fitting is provided with a holding portion for holding the inserted pointer terminal, and extending or extending from the holding portion. 3. The self-luminous pointer type meter according to claim 2, further comprising: a resilient portion provided independently and configured to repress an inner peripheral end of the flexible band against the flat surface. 4. The pointer terminal of the pointer has a plate-like shape that can be inserted into a holding portion of the first power supply fitting, and the mounting portion of the insulator has a recess for inserting the first power supply fitting. The first power supply fitting has a crimping portion for sandwiching the inner peripheral end of the flexible band and performing thermocompression, a clamping portion for clamping the inserted pointer terminal, and a resilient pressure for resiliently pressing the recess. 3. A self-luminous pointer-type instrument according to claim 2, comprising: 5. The self-luminous pointer-type instrument according to claim 3, wherein a lance is provided on a back side of the first power supply fitting, and a hook portion for hooking the lance is provided on the mounting portion.