JP4920439B2 - Meter device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a meter device used in an automobile or the like, and more particularly, to a technique for illuminating an annular member disposed so as to surround the outside of a display unit such as a dial scale or characters.

  In recent years, in meter devices for vehicles and the like, in addition to illuminating characters and scales provided on the pointer and dial from the back side of the dial, the annular member surrounding the outside of the dial display is illuminated. To produce a sense of quality and high quality.

A meter device capable of such annular illumination includes a dial, a light guide plate overlaid on the back of the dial, and an annular member installed so as to go around the display portion of the dial. A light source is known in which light directed outward from the peripheral edge surface of the optical plate is reflected by the inner peripheral wall of the annular member so that the light source dedicated to illumination of the annular member can be reduced (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ).
JP 2003-314111 A

However, in the above-described conventional technology, since illumination is performed with a single color light source, design variations at the time of illumination are scarce, and high-quality and high-quality performance performance cannot be obtained sufficiently.
Further, when the color of the light source is increased, the number of necessary light sources is increased, resulting in an increase in cost.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a meter device that can be achieved at a low cost to enhance the effect of luxury and high quality by illuminating with a plurality of colors. The purpose is to do.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the present invention provides a dial plate that is formed in a plate shape and provided with a translucent display portion that serves as an indicator of a pointer, and is placed around the outside of the display portion. An annular member provided with a peripheral wall rising from the surface, and provided with a metallic coating film on the peripheral wall, and a light source provided on the back side of the dial plate to illuminate the peripheral wall of the display unit and the annular member. It is a meter device, and is provided with a colored translucent coating that covers the metallic coating on the peripheral wall, receives illumination light from the light source, and reflects light of a color different from the emission color. It was set as the characteristic meter apparatus.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the meter device according to the first aspect, the annular member is formed continuously from an inner peripheral wall that surrounds the display unit and a front end of the inner peripheral wall in the meter front direction. A front end face and an outer peripheral face that forms an outer periphery of an annular member that is continuous with an edge of the front end face in the outer shape direction, and the colored translucent coating film is provided on the inner peripheral wall. The meter device.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the meter device according to the second aspect, the plate-shaped light guide plate having translucency transmits illumination light from the light source to the display unit and the annular member. The meter device is characterized in that the outer peripheral end face is provided on the back side of the dial so that light can be guided to the peripheral wall.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the meter device according to the third aspect, diffused light is directed toward the inner peripheral wall of the annular member from the end surface of the plate-shaped light guide plate facing the inner peripheral wall of the annular member. It was set as the meter apparatus characterized by being emitted.
The invention according to claim 5 is the meter device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the light source is white.
The invention according to claim 6 is the meter device according to claim 5, wherein the colored translucent coating film is blue.

  In the meter device of the present invention, when the light source is turned on, the display portion of the dial and the peripheral wall of the annular member are illuminated with the light of the light source. At this time, on the peripheral wall of the annular member, light passes through the colored translucent coating film and is reflected by the metallic coating film below it, so that illumination is performed with the color translucent coating color different from the color of the light source. Is done.

Therefore, in the present invention, the display portion of the dial plate and the peripheral wall of the annular member surrounding the dial plate are illuminated with different colors, and the illumination color of the annular member is illuminated with a color different from the metallic tone when not illuminated. It is possible to enhance the production effect of a high-class feeling and high-quality feeling.
In addition, in the present invention, when the display unit and the peripheral wall of the annular member are illuminated in different colors, the annular member is covered with a metallic paint film, and the peripheral wall is provided with a colored translucent paint film thereon. Since it is only covered with the layer coating film, it is less expensive than using light sources of different colors for the illumination for the display section and the illumination for the annular member.
Further, in the present invention, since the metallic tone coating is provided under the colored translucent coating on the peripheral wall of the annular member, the illumination light is highly reflective, and a coating different from the color of the light source is simply provided. Higher lighting performance can be obtained compared to the only one.

  Further, in the invention according to claim 2, when viewed from the front side of the meter when not illuminated, the annular member has an outer peripheral wall covered with a metal-tone coating film and a front end face, so that the outer periphery of the display unit has a metal tone. It looks like it is surrounded by a frame and can produce a sense of quality and high quality. On the other hand, at the time of illumination, as described above, the display portion and the inner peripheral wall of the annular member are illuminated with different colors.

  In this way, a new production with different appearances can be made between the non-illumination and the illumination, the production variation increases, and a higher quality and higher quality can be obtained.

In the invention according to claim 3, since the plate-shaped light guide plate for guiding the light of the light source to the display unit and the annular member is provided on the back side of the dial, the light of the light source of the display unit and the annular member efficiently The number of light sources to be used can be reduced and the whole can be illuminated uniformly compared to a structure in which a plate-like light guide plate is not provided.
In the invention according to claim 4, the inner peripheral wall of the annular member is illuminated with the diffused light emitted from the end face of the plate-like light guide plate.
Therefore, the inner peripheral wall is illuminated uniformly, and a sense of quality and high quality are further enhanced.

In the invention according to claim 5, since the light source is white, it is possible to produce high-quality and high-quality effects regardless of the color of the colored translucent coating film.
Furthermore, in the invention described in claim 6, the display portion can be illuminated in white, the inner peripheral wall of the annular member can be illuminated in blue, and novel illumination that has not been achieved can be achieved.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The meter device of this embodiment is formed in a plate shape and has a dial plate (31) provided with a translucent display portion (31a, 31b) serving as an indicator of the pointer (1a), and the display portion (31a). , 31b) and an annular member (40) provided with a peripheral wall (41) rising from the dial surface (30a) and provided on the back side of the dial (31), 31a, 31b) and a light source (12a) for illuminating the peripheral wall (41) of the annular member (40), and covering the surface of the annular member (40) with a metallic coating film ( 44), a colored translucent coating film (45) having a translucency of a color different from the emission color of the light source (12a) covering the metallic coating film (44) on the peripheral wall (41). ) Is provided.

  Below, based on FIGS. 1-2, the meter apparatus of Example 1 of the best embodiment of this invention is demonstrated.

  The meter device A according to the first embodiment is mounted in a meter cluster provided on an instrument panel of an automobile not shown, and as shown in FIG. 3, a speedometer 1, an engine speed meter 2, a fuel meter. 3. A water temperature meter 4 is provided.

  Since the structures of the two meters 1 and 2 are the same, the structure of the meter device A according to the first embodiment will be described below by taking the speedometer 1 as an example.

  The speedometer 1 includes a substrate 10, a lower case 20, a dial plate 30, a ring member 40, a housing 50, a light guide plate 60, an upper case 70, and a back cover, as shown in FIG. 80 and a transparent cover 90 are provided.

The substrate 10 is formed in a plate shape by a hard resin such as an epoxy resin, and includes a movement 11 for driving the pointer 1a, light emitting diodes 12a and 12b as light sources for illumination, a circuit for driving these, and the like.
In the first embodiment, the light emitting diodes 12a and 12b emit white light.

The substrate 10 is fixed while being sandwiched between the lower case 20 and the back cover 80.
That is, with the substrate 10 in contact with the back side of the lower case 20, the back cover 80 is put on the back surface of the substrate 10, and the engaging claws that are formed integrally with the back cover 80 and that are not shown are connected to the lower case 20. The board 10 is fixed in a state of being sandwiched between the lower case 20 and the back cover 80 by being engaged with each other.

  The lower case 20 is covered with a dial 30 in the meter front direction (the direction in which the meter device A is directly facing and in the direction of arrow F in the figure).

The dial plate 30 is formed in a thin plate shape with a transparent resin material such as polycarbonate resin. The dial-shaped dial meter portion 31 disposed in each meter 1 and 2 and the outer periphery of the dial meter portion 31 And a dial outer part 32 arranged at intervals in the direction.
As shown in FIG. 3, the dial meter unit 31 is provided with a scale on the dial plate surface 30a, which is the surface thereof, as a display unit serving as a pointer indicator at regular intervals along the turning trajectory of the tip of the pointer 1a. And a character display unit 31b on which the speed in increments of 20 km / h is displayed on the inner diameter side of the scale display unit 31a. Note that a display unit such as a pictograph is also provided as a display unit, but the illustration is omitted here.

Further, in the dial meter portion 31, a bent portion 31c is provided between the scale display portion 31a and the character display portion 31b, and the scale display portion 31a is inclined so as to face the meter central direction.
In addition, the display portions 31a and 31b are formed by printing a white light-transmitting paint on the design display so that the white light of the light emitting diode 12a is transmitted from the back surface of the dial 30 to the front surface. It is formed to be capable of light. On the other hand, except for these display portions 31a and 31b, a black light-shielding paint is printed.

The dial meter portion 31 is surrounded by a ring member (annular member) 40 on the outer periphery thereof.
The ring member 40 decorates the outer circumferences of the meters 1 and 2, is formed in an annular shape from a hard resin, and has an inner peripheral wall (peripheral wall) 41, an outer peripheral wall (peripheral wall) 42, and a front end face (peripheral wall) 43. And.

  The inner peripheral wall 41 is raised between the dial meter portion 31 and the dial outer portion 32 in the meter front direction (arrow F direction) from the back side position of the dial 30 and expands toward the meter front direction side. It is formed in an annular shape by a curved curved wall.

  The outer peripheral wall 42 is formed in an annular shape by a wall that is raised from the surface of the dial outer portion 32 in a direction substantially orthogonal to the meter front direction.

  The front end face 43 is formed at a portion connecting the inner peripheral wall 41 and the outer peripheral wall 42, and is formed in an annular shape facing the meter front direction.

  In the ring member 40, an engagement claw 46 is formed on the inner peripheral wall 41. The ring member 40 engages the engagement claw 46 with the housing 50, and the front end surface of the outer peripheral wall 42 is formed with characters. It is fixed by engaging with the surface of the plate outer side portion 32.

The housing 50 is disposed on the back side of the dial meter unit 31 together with the light guide plate 60, and guides light from the light emitting diodes 12 a and 12 b to the dial meter unit 31 and the ring member 40.
The light guide plate 60 is formed in a substantially donut plate shape with a transparent resin material such as polycarbonate resin, and is provided so as to overlap the dial plate back surface 30b which is the back surface of the dial meter unit 31, and the scale display unit 31a and the character display unit The outer peripheral portion that overlaps 31b in the meter back direction (the direction opposite to the meter front direction and in the direction of the arrow BK in FIG. 1) is formed to increase in thickness toward the outer diameter direction.
The outer peripheral end surface 61 of the light guide plate 60 is opposed to the inner peripheral wall 41 of the ring member 40 in the meter width direction (the horizontal width direction of the meter device A and the arrow W direction in FIG. 1).

  The outer peripheral surface of the light guide plate 60 has an acute angle with respect to the surface of the dial meter portion 31 so that the emitted illumination light diffuses in the direction of arrow F, and the entire inner peripheral wall 45 of the ring member 40 Uniform illumination is possible.

The housing 50 is interposed between the substrate 10 and the light guide plate 60, and is fixed by engaging the engaging claws 51 with the substrate 10.
The housing 50 is also formed with a first housing reflecting surface 52 that reflects light from the light emitting diode 12a in the meter front direction, and a second housing reflecting surface 53 that reflects light from the light emitting diode 12b in the meter front direction. ing.

The first housing reflecting surface 52 is formed at a position overlapping both the display portions 31a and 31b of the dial meter portion 31 in the meter back direction, and diffuses the light of the light emitting diode 12a toward both the display portions 31a and 31b. Accordingly, a pair of inclined surfaces inclined so as to widen the width in the front direction of the meter are formed to extend in an arc shape along both display portions 31a and 31b.
The second housing reflecting surface 53 is formed so as to surround the rotation center shaft 11b of the pointer 1a, and condenses the light of the light emitting diode 12b on the light guide member 11c coupled to the rotation center shaft 11b. Therefore, it is formed in a conical shape constricted in the meter front direction.

The upper case 70 and the transparent cover 90 cover the meters 1 and 2, and the upper case 70 is formed in a cylindrical shape from a hard black resin that hardly reflects light, and has a base end outside the lower case 20. An engagement claw (not shown) is engaged with the lower case 20 while being in contact with the inner side of the peripheral edge, and is fixed.
The transparent cover 90 is formed in a thin plate shape with a transparent resin, and is fixed to the inner periphery of the upper end of the upper case 70.

Next, a characteristic configuration of the first embodiment will be described.
As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 2, the ring member 40 is entirely covered with a metallic paint film 44 formed of a silver plating layer in order to decorate the outer circumferences of the meters 1 and 2.
In addition, a stepped portion 47 that is slightly recessed inward is formed at the distal end portion of the inner peripheral wall 41 of the ring member 40 that is close to the front end surface 43, and the outer periphery of the light guide plate 60 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the inner peripheral wall 41. In the range from the base end portion facing the end surface 61 to the stepped portion 47 on the front end side, the metallic coating 44 is covered with the colored translucent coating 45.

  The colored translucent coating 45 is coated with a blue translucent colored paint (for example, an acrylic resin-based paint or a polyurethane resin-based paint) different from the white color of the light emitting diodes 12a, 12b and the display portions 31a, 31b. Is formed.

  That is, after the ring member 40 is plated on the entire outer periphery, the front end face 43 side is masked by the masking material 100 from the stepped portion 47 of the inner peripheral wall 41 as shown in FIG. The colored translucent coating film 45 is formed by spraying or applying paint.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described.
When the light emitting diodes 12a and 12b are not lit in the daytime, the ring member 40 surrounding the outer circumferences of the meters 1 and 2 is other than the portion covered with the colored translucent coating film 45 such as the front end face 43 and the outer circumferential wall 42. The silver-colored metallic coating 44 is exposed, whereby the outer peripheral portions of the white display of both the display portions 31a and 31b of the meters 1 and 2 are decorated in a silver ring shape, so that a high-class feeling and high A feeling of quality is obtained.

  On the other hand, when the light emitting diodes 12a and 12b are turned on at night or the like, the light from the light emitting diode 12b at the center of the meter is guided to the pointer 1a via the light guide member 11c coupled to the rotation center shaft 11b. Is illuminated.

  The light emitted from the light emitting diode 12a on the outer periphery of the meter is incident on the light guide plate 60 and emitted from the light guide plate 60 while being diffused to both the display portions 31a and 31b of the dial meter portion 31 and both the display portions 31a and 31b. Is illuminated in white. Further, the light is emitted from the outer peripheral end face 61 of the light guide plate 60 toward the inner peripheral wall 41 of the ring member 40 while being diffused, passes through the colored semi-transparent coating film 45, is reflected by the metallic tone coating film 44, and is again colored half-colored. After passing through the transparent coating film 45, it goes in the meter front direction.

By this reflected light, the inner peripheral wall 41 of the ring member 40 is illuminated from the back direction to the meter front direction rather than the dial meter portion 31, and a high-quality feeling and a high-class feeling are produced by this annular illumination having a sense of depth. be able to.
In addition, the annular illumination is colored blue by the colored translucent coating film 45 and both the display portions 31a and 31b are illuminated in white, whereas the annular ring member 40 is illuminated in blue and has two colors. The illuminations of different colors can provide a higher level of quality and quality.

As described above, the meter device A according to the first embodiment appears to surround the white display portions 31a and 31b with the silver ring member 40 during the daytime, and at the night time, the both display portions 31a of the white illumination as described above. , 31b is surrounded by a blue ring-shaped illumination, and a meter device capable of producing a novel high-class feeling and high-quality feeling that are different in daytime and nighttime can be provided.
In addition, since it is possible to illuminate the two display portions 31a and 31b and the ring member 40 with different colors with the light emitting diode 12a of one color, the annular illumination is a color different from the illumination colors of the display portions 31a and 31b. Compared with the case where the light emitting diode is used, it can be constructed at a low cost.

  In addition, in the first embodiment, when the ring member 40 is colored in blue, the translucent colored translucent coating film 45 is superimposed on the metallic tone coating film 44. Compared to the inner peripheral wall 41 provided with a colored coating film, the illumination light is highly reflective and excellent illumination performance can be obtained.

  Further, in the first embodiment, the light guide plate 60 that guides the light of the light emitting diode 12a while diffusing to both the display portions 31a and 31b and the inner peripheral wall 41 of the ring member 40 is provided on the back surface of the dial meter portion 31. The light of the diode 12a can be efficiently guided to both the display portions 31a and 31b and the inner peripheral wall 41, and the number of light emitting diodes 12a to be used can be reduced as compared with the structure in which the light guide plate 60 is not provided. Can be illuminated uniformly.

Moreover, in Example 1, since the metal-tone coating film 44 is formed by metal plating, the metal-tone coating film 44 can be formed on the entire surface by simply immersing the ring member 40 in the plating tank, and manufacturing is easy.
In addition, since the step portion 47 is formed on the inner peripheral wall 41 and this step portion 47 is used for masking at the time of painting, the masking operation and the painting operation are facilitated.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment and Example 1 of this invention were explained in full detail with reference to drawings, specific structure is not restricted to this Embodiment and Example 1, and does not deviate from the summary of this invention. A degree of design change is included in the present invention.

  For example, in the first embodiment, the meter device A for a vehicle is shown, but the present invention can also be applied to a device other than a vehicle such as a ship.

  In the first embodiment, an annular ring member 40 surrounding the entire circumference of the speedometer 1 is shown as an annular member. However, if the annular member is provided so as to surround the display portion, It does not have to surround the entire circumference. For example, when applied to the fuel meter 3 of FIG. 3 shown in the first embodiment, an arc-shaped ring member of about 2/3 of the entire circumference other than the portion in contact with the ring member 40 surrounding the speedometer 1 is used. Also good. Alternatively, the shape may be a shape other than an annular shape such as a polygonal annular shape.

  Moreover, in Example 1, although the example which provided the light-guide plate 60 on the back surface of the dial meter part 31 was shown, the point is that a light source serves as illumination of a display part and illumination of the surrounding wall of an annular member. In this case, the light guide plate 60 may not be used.

  Furthermore, as an example of illuminating the peripheral wall of the annular member with the light source, the example of illuminating the inner peripheral wall 41 of the ring member 40 has been described in the first embodiment, but the present invention can also be applied to an annular illumination with the outer peripheral wall. In this case, the colored translucent coating film is provided on the outer peripheral wall.

  Moreover, in Example 1, although the metal-tone coating film 44 formed with the silver plating layer was shown as a metal-tone coating film, it is not limited to this, The coating material which can reflect mirror surface finishing and metal-tone light May be formed.

  In the first embodiment, the light emitting diodes 12a and 12b are shown as the light sources, but other light sources such as a light bulb may be used.

It is sectional drawing which shows the principal part of the meter apparatus A of Example 1 of the best embodiment of this invention, Comprising: The cut surface in the right half of the meter apparatus A shown by the S1-S1 line of FIG. 3 is shown. It is an enlarged view of the principal part of FIG. 1, (a) is an expanded sectional view of a ring member, (b) is an expanded sectional view of the front-end | tip part. It is a front view of the meter apparatus A of Example 1. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1a Pointer 12a Light emitting diode (light source)
30 Dial 30a Dial surface 30b Dial back surface 31 Dial meter part 31a Scale display part 31b Character display part 40 Ring member (annular member)
41 inner peripheral wall 42 outer peripheral wall 43 front end face 44 metallic coating 45 colored translucent coating 60 light guide plate 61 outer peripheral end A meter device

Claims (6)

A dial plate formed in a plate shape and provided with a translucent display portion that serves as an indicator of the pointer,
An annular member that is installed around the outside of the display unit, includes a peripheral wall that rises from the dial surface, and is provided with a metallic coating on the peripheral wall;
A light source that is provided on the back side of the dial and that illuminates a peripheral wall of the display unit and the annular member;
A meter device comprising:
A meter device comprising a colored translucent coating that covers the metallic coating on the peripheral wall, receives illumination light from the light source, and reflects light of a color different from the emitted color. The annular member is connected to an inner peripheral wall surrounding the display portion, a front end surface formed continuously at a meter front end of the inner peripheral wall, and an outer peripheral edge of the front end surface, and an outer periphery of the annular member. And an outer peripheral surface forming
The meter device according to claim 1, wherein the colored translucent coating film is provided on the inner peripheral wall.   The plate-shaped light guide plate having translucency can guide the illumination light from the light source to the inner peripheral wall of the display unit and the annular member, and the outer peripheral end face thereof is opposed to the inner peripheral wall. The meter device according to claim 2, wherein the meter device is provided on the back side of the meter device.   The meter device according to claim 3, wherein diffused light is emitted toward an inner peripheral wall of the annular member from an end surface of the plate-shaped light guide plate facing the inner peripheral wall of the annular member.   The meter device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the light source is white.   The meter device according to claim 5, wherein the colored translucent coating film is blue.

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