JP4990726B2 - Vehicle door handle device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle door handle device.

  A door handle device is attached to an inner panel on the indoor side of a door of a vehicle (for example, an automobile). This door handle device has a box-like case body whose front side on the indoor side is opened, and a door handle that is rotatably supported at either end of the case body in the left-right direction.

  At night, when a vehicle occupant (hereinafter referred to as a driver) is about to get off, the driver may get off by opening the door after removing the ignition key. When the ignition key is removed, all the lamps in the vehicle are turned off. In this state, the driver looks for the door handle of the door handle device and raises the door handle to the near side (inside the room) to unlock the door. That is, the driver must look for the door handle with all the lamps in the vehicle turned off. As a result, the driver may not be able to accurately operate the door handle. In particular, the passengers in the passenger seat and the rear seat do not insert and remove the ignition key themselves, and this tendency is remarkable.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an invention is disclosed in which the door handle device is illuminated for a predetermined time by a timer even after the ignition key is removed (see Patent Document 1). In the invention disclosed in this document, a point light source is arranged in a concave portion of a case body of a door handle device, and the door handle device is illuminated for a predetermined time after the lamp switch is turned on and after the ignition key is removed. It is to let you.

However, in the above-described invention, although the periphery of the door handle is illuminated, the door handle itself melts into the surrounding door panel and becomes invisible. Also, the appearance is not good.
JP 2007-63981 A

  In view of the circumstances described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle door handle device in which the door handle has a high-class feeling and emits light.

Means and effects for solving the problems

The present invention for solving the above problems is as follows.
A door handle device for door opening operation provided on an inner surface of a vehicle door,
A door handle made of a material having translucency, which guides light into the interior and can be emitted from the outer surface;
A light source that is provided in the vicinity of the door handle, introduces light into a part of the outer surface of the door handle, diffuses in the door handle, and diverges from the outer surface of the door handle,
By light introduced from the light source to the door handle is diverged from the outer surface, Ri Do a state that its door handle emits light,
The inner surface of the door is formed with a recess that opens to the inside of the vehicle that houses the door handle,
The door handle is disposed below the recess;
The light source is disposed on a concave lower side wall of the concave portion facing a lower side portion of the door handle,
The door handle is formed so that its outer edge is highly translucent and at least the front part exposed to the inside of the vehicle has low or no translucency, and the light from the light source is transmitted through the door handle. Is introduced into the interior from the lower lower side, diffused inside, and radiated from the outer edge to the outside, so that the outer edge of the door handle emits light along its outline or the outer edge emits more strongly than the other parts. It is characterized by being in such a state .

  The present invention is configured as described above, and the light introduced from the light source to the door handle diverges from the outer surface, so that the door handle emits light, and the door handle floats to the driver. Visible in a raised state. The driver can easily and reliably visually recognize the door handle even at night. In addition, since the door handle is in a state of emitting light in a form that rises, a sense of quality is created compared to conventional door handle illumination. The light source may be anything such as an LED or a light bulb.

  The front part of the door handle exposed at least inside the vehicle has low or no translucency except for part or all of the outer edge of the door handle, and the light from the light source has high translucency. A part of the outer edge portion is introduced into the door handle and diffused inside the door handle, and the diffused light is emitted from the outer edge portion having high translucency to the outside. The outer edge portion can emit light along its outline, or the outer edge portion can emit light more strongly than other portions.

  Light that radiates outside the door handle causes the outer edge of the door handle to emit light stronger than other parts along its contour, so the contour line of the door handle emerges clearly, making it even more luxurious The light emission state becomes.

  And the outer edge part of the door handle is a part with high translucency, and the front part exposed to the inside of the vehicle or the front part and the back part on the opposite side are parts with low or no translucency. You may be made to do.

  The portion of the door handle having low or no translucency is composed of a thin film layer in which metal or non-metallic particles are fixed on the surface of the door handle made of a translucent material by vapor deposition or the like. Depending on the thickness of the layer, the light-transmitting property can be lowered or absent.

  Further, the portion with high translucency of the door handle has no thin film layer or the thickness of the thin film layer is a predetermined value or less, and the portion with low or no translucency of the door handle has the thin film layer. Is set to a predetermined value or more.

  In the door handle, a portion having low or no light transmission is formed of a thin film layer fixed by, for example, vapor deposition. The degree of light transmissivity can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the film thickness at this time. The light transmissivity may be lowered by means other than vapor deposition, such as plating, painting, film attachment, two-color molding, blasting, and the like.

  The inner surface of the door is formed with a recessed portion that opens to the inside of the vehicle that houses the door handle, and the light source is disposed on the recessed lower side wall or the recessed upper side wall of the recessed portion corresponding to the lower side or upper side of the door handle. The door handle is formed so that its outer edge is highly translucent and at least the front part exposed to the inside of the vehicle has low or no translucency, and the light from the light source is transmitted through the door handle. Light is introduced into the inside from the lower or upper side, which is highly luminous, and diffused inside and diffused from the outer edge to the outside, so that the outer edge of the door handle emits light along its outline or the outer edge is otherwise Alternatively, the light may be emitted more strongly than the portion.

  A light source for introducing light into the door handle when housed in the recess on the inner surface of the door of the vehicle may be disposed on either the lower side wall of the recess or the upper side wall of the recess. Thereby, the freedom degree of arrangement | positioning of a light source becomes high.

  In addition, the light source is one or a plurality of point light sources, and a light guide member that introduces light of the point light source to form a planar light emission is interposed between the point light source and the door handle. The light from the point light source becomes planar light by the light guide member, and can be introduced into the door handle.

  Light from the light source is uniformly introduced into the door handle by the light guide member. As a result, the door handle can be made to emit light uniformly, and uneven light emission can be prevented.

  A sensor that turns off the light source by detecting that the door handle is operated can be attached.

  The door is unlocked by operating the door handle (for example, causing it to the front side), and the interior lamp can be turned on by the unlock signal. Thereby, when the door handle is opened, the light source can be automatically turned off, and the degree of consumption of the vehicle battery can be minimized.

  Examples of the present invention will be described. 1 is a front view of a door handle device 101 according to a first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line YY of FIG.

  A door handle device 101 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a door handle device 101 is attached to an inner door panel 1 of a vehicle door. The door handle device 101 includes a box-shaped case body 2 having an open front on the indoor side, a door handle 3 that is rotatably supported at an end in the left-right direction of the case body 2, and a lock knob 4. is doing. The door handle 3 and the lock knob 4 are arranged in an overlapping state in the height direction. The door handle 3 and the lock knob 4 are rotatable about a rotation shaft 5 provided at an end portion in the left-right direction of the case body 2 (the right end portion in the drawing in the case of FIG. 1).

  The door handle 3 includes a rotation support portion 3a supported by a rotation shaft 5 provided in the height direction of the case body 2, and an operation portion 3b on which a driver puts his / her finger when the door is opened. Have. The length of the door handle 3 in the left-right direction is longer than that of the lock knob 4 by the amount of the operation unit 3b. Further, the thickness (length in the depth direction) of the operation portion 3b is thinner than that of the rotation support portion 3a, and the operation portion 3b is operated with the rear portion of the case body 2 in a state where the door handle 3 is accommodated in the case body 2. A space 6 is formed between the portion 3b. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the driver causes a finger (not shown) to enter the space 6 in the closed state of the door, and causes the door handle 3 to move to the front side (indoor side) (door handle). 3 is rotated counterclockwise about the rotation shaft 5), the door is unlocked. Then, when the driver pushes the door toward the outside as it is, the door is opened. Further, when the door is closed, the lock knob 4 is pushed toward the inside of the case body 2 (the lock knob 4 is rotated in the clockwise direction around the rotation shaft 5), thereby causing the door handle 3 to be raised. The unlocking operation of the door 1 can be invalidated.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a light guide plate 7 is fitted into the bottom surface of the case body 2. When the door handle 3 is accommodated in the case body 2, the light guide plate 7 is disposed so as to face a portion immediately below the rotation support portion 3 a and the operation portion 3 b of the door handle 3. In addition, a dot-like light source is attached to one end portion of the light guide plate 7 in the door panel 1 (in the case of the door handle device 101 of the present embodiment, the left end portion in the drawing view of FIG. 1). In the case of the door handle device 101 according to the first embodiment, the light source is the LED 8 and is disposed to face the left end surface of the light guide plate 7. When the LED 8 emits light, the light enters the light guide plate 7. The light incident on the light guide plate 7 is reflected and diffused inside the light guide plate 7 and emitted from the surface of the light guide plate 7. Thereby, the surface of the light guide plate 7 is in a state as if light is emitted (surface light emission).

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the door handle 3 of this embodiment is made of a transparent resin material (for example, a translucent resin material such as acrylic or polycarbonate). And the metal or nonmetallic particle | grains are vapor-deposited in the part except the outer edge part (edge part 9) among the surfaces of the door handle 3. FIG. In FIG. 2, a vapor deposition film formed on the surface of the door handle 3 is denoted by reference numeral 11. Light does not pass through the portion of the deposited film 11. Moreover, each edge part 9 is good also as the state which exposed the transparent resin material as shown in FIG. 2, and the state which carried out vapor deposition of the metal etc. half. Vapor deposition refers to the adhesion of metal particles as a thin film that does not transmit light, and half vapor deposition refers to the adhesion of metal particles as a thin film that transmits light. It means to make it. Naturally, the film thickness formed when vapor deposition is thicker than the film thickness formed when half vapor deposition is performed.

  Here, in general, acrylic has a defect that impact resistance is low (that is, brittle), and polycarbonate has a defect that chemical resistance is low. For this reason, in order to ensure the rigidity of the door handle 3, the door handle 3 is not made of ordinary acrylic or polycarbonate. For example, acrylic containing rubber or a polymer of polycarbonate (PC) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) is used. It is desirable to be made of an alloy (PC / PBT).

  When the LED 8 emits light, the light enters the light guide plate 7 and is reflected and diffused in the light guide plate 7 to be emitted. The light emitted from the light guide plate 7 enters the door handle 3 from the lower edge portion 9 of the door handle 3. Then, the light is emitted from the edge portion 9 while being reflected and diffused inside the door handle 3. Thereby, it will be in the state where the edge part 9 of the door handle 3 light-emitted. For example, the LED 8 may be linked with a lamp switch of a vehicle so that the LED 8 is turned on when the driver turns on the lamp switch.

  The operation of the door handle device 101 of the first embodiment will be described. At night, the driver turns on the lamp switch of the vehicle. The LED 8 emits light, and the light enters the door handle 3 through the light guide plate 7 from the lower edge portion 9 of the door handle 3. This light is emitted from the edge portion 9 of the door handle 3 while being reflected and diffused inside the door handle 3. As a result, the upper and lower and left and right edge portions 9 in the front portion of the door handle 3 are in a light-emitting state, and the driver can visually recognize the contour line of the door handle 3 in a raised state. As a result, the driver can easily visually recognize the door handle 3. When the driver intends to get off the vehicle, his / her finger is inserted into the space 6 in the case body 2 of the door handle device 101 and hooked on the operation part 3b of the door handle 3 to bring the door handle 3 to the near side (inside the room). Rotate to cause. As shown in FIG. 4, even when the door handle 3 is raised, the lower edge portion 9 of the rotation support portion 3 a of the door handle 3 is hung on the light guide plate 7. Will continue to emit light. As a result, the driver can cause the door handle 3 smoothly even at night. When the door handle 3 is rotated by a predetermined angle or more, the door is unlocked and can be opened.

  In the door handle device 101 of the first embodiment described above, the vapor deposition film 11 is formed on all portions of the surface of the door handle 3 except the edge portion 9. However, unlike the door handle device 102 of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the vapor deposition film 11 does not have to be formed on the back surface portion of the door handle 3. Even in this case, since the upper and lower and left and right edge portions 9 in the front portion are in a state of light emission, the driver can visually recognize the door handle in a lifted state, and the door handle device 101 of the first embodiment. The same effect is produced.

  In the door handle devices 101 and 102 of the present embodiment, the translucency is eliminated by vapor-depositing metal or non-metallic particles with a predetermined thickness on the surface of the door handle 3 excluding the edge portion 9. However, the translucency may be lowered from the surface of the door handle 3 by roughening the surface by means other than vapor deposition, such as plating, painting, film attachment, two-color molding, blasting, or the like.

  In the door handle devices 101 and 102 of the first and second embodiments described above, light emitted from one LED 8 is incident on the door handle 3 through the light guide plate 7. However, like the door handle device 103 of the third embodiment shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of LEDs 8 may be arranged in parallel on the inner bottom surface portion (the portion where the light guide plate 7 is disposed) of the case body 2. . In the case of the door handle device 103 of this embodiment, since the light emitted from the plurality of LEDs 8 is directly incident on the door handle 3, there is an advantage that the light guide plate 7 becomes unnecessary.

  In the door handle device 103 of the second embodiment described above, the same effect can be obtained even if a single band light source is attached instead of the plurality of LEDs 8.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, light is incident from the lower side of the door handle 3. However, light may be incident from the upper side or the back side of the door handle 3.

  In the door handle devices 101 to 103 of the above-described embodiments, the light emission switch of the LED 8 can also serve as the lamp switch of the vehicle. In this case, as long as the lamp switch of the vehicle is ON, the door handle 3 is in a state of light emission. However, the LED 8 may be turned on when the driver places the shift lever in the P position. The fact that the shift lever is arranged at the P position is considered that the driver expressed his intention to get off.

  Alternatively, the LED 8 may be turned on in conjunction with the ignition key being turned OFF, and the timer control may be performed so that the LED 8 is automatically turned off after a predetermined period of time after the ignition key is removed from the key cylinder. Thereby, even if all the lamps in the vehicle are turned off, it is easy for the driver to visually recognize the door handle 3.

  Furthermore, it is also conceivable that the interior lamp is turned on by an unlock signal when the driver raises the door handle 3 to unlock the door. In this case, the LED 8 may be turned off by a door unlock signal. For example, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a sensor (for example, proximity switch 12) is embedded in the inner wall portion of the case body 2, and the proximity switch 12 is provided in the door handle 3 accommodated in the case body 2. A detection body (for example, a metal plate 13) is attached at a position corresponding to. When the door handle 3 is raised and the metal plate 13 of the door handle 3 moves away from the proximity switch 12 beyond a predetermined distance (operation distance), the LED 8 is turned off by the function of the proximity switch 12.

  The door handle 3 itself may be used as the detection body by making the portion of the door handle 3 with low translucency conductive plating.

It is a front view of the door handle apparatus 101 of 1st Example. It is the XX sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is the YY sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is action | operation explanatory drawing of the door handle apparatus 101. FIG. It is side surface sectional drawing of the door handle apparatus 102 of 2nd Example. It is a front view of the door handle apparatus 103 of 3rd Example.

Explanation of symbols

101-103 Door handle device 1 Door panel (door inner surface)
2 Case body (concave)
3 Door handle 7 Light guide plate (light guide member)
8 LED (light source)
9 Edge (outer edge)
12 Sensor (Proximity switch)

Claims (7)

A door handle device for door opening operation provided on an inner surface of a vehicle door,
A door handle made of a material having translucency, which guides light into the interior and can be emitted from the outer surface;
A light source that is provided in the vicinity of the door handle, introduces light into a part of the outer surface of the door handle, diffuses in the door handle, and diverges from the outer surface of the door handle,
By light introduced from the light source to the door handle is diverged from the outer surface, Ri Do a state that its door handle emits light,
The inner surface of the door is formed with a recess that opens to the inside of the vehicle that houses the door handle,
The door handle is disposed below the recess;
The light source is disposed on a concave lower side wall of the concave portion facing a lower side portion of the door handle,
The door handle is formed so that its outer edge is highly translucent and at least the front part exposed to the inside of the vehicle has low or no translucency, and the light from the light source is transmitted through the door handle. Is introduced into the interior from the lower lower side, diffused inside, and radiated from the outer edge to the outside, so that the outer edge of the door handle emits light along its outline or the outer edge emits more strongly than the other parts. A vehicle door handle device characterized by the above . The vehicle door handle device according to claim 1, wherein a back surface portion of the door handle opposite to the front surface portion is a portion having low or no translucency . The portion of the door handle having low or no translucency is composed of a thin film layer in which metal or non-metallic particles are fixed on the surface of the door handle made of a translucent material by vapor deposition or the like. The vehicle door handle device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the translucency is low or absent depending on a film thickness of the layer . The portion with high translucency of the door handle has no thin film layer or the film thickness of the thin film layer is a predetermined value or less, and the portion with low or no translucency of the door handle has a film of the thin film layer. The vehicle door handle device according to claim 3 , wherein the thickness is equal to or greater than a predetermined value . The light source is a point light source or a plurality of point light sources, and a light guide member that introduces light of the point light source into a planar light emission is interposed between the point light source and the door handle, The vehicle door handle device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein light from the point light source is converted into planar light by the light guide member and introduced into the door handle. The door handle includes a rotation support portion that is rotatably supported by a left and right end portion of the concave portion, and an operation portion that a driver puts on when the door is opened.
The vehicle door handle device according to claim 5, wherein the rotation support portion is hooked on the light guide member even when the door handle is raised . The vehicle door handle device according to any one of claims 1 to 6 , wherein a sensor for detecting that the door handle is operated and turning off the light source is attached .

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