JP2005181484A - Traffic indicator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a traffic indicator which is naturally, highly visible and can be made small-sized and moreover manufactured at low cost. <P>SOLUTION: The traffic indicator has a light guide plate (10), light emitting diodes (21) arranged on the flank of the light guide plate, a reflecting sheet (30) arranged on the back (11) of the light guide plate, a display sheet (40) which is arranged on the front (13) of the light guide plate and has a printed display including an indication (41), such as characters and figures, and a case (50) which houses them. The light-emitting diodes are put in the light guide plate and arranged on the flank of the light guide plate, and the case is formed of a hollow body, having an opening (54) covered by a transparent protection plate (58) and an elastic resin coating layer (57) arranged opposite to the protection plate, the case housing the reflecting sheet, light guide plate, and display sheet which are pressed against the protection plate by the elastic resin coating layer while the display is exposed to an outer side through the opening. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a traffic sign device that displays traffic information such as speed limit, entry prohibition, and temporary stop, and more particularly to a traffic sign device having high visibility in daytime and nighttime.

  As this type of labeling device, there is provided a device that uses a light emitting diode for a surface light source as a linear light emitter, guides light from the light emitting diode to a light guide plate, and serves as a surface light source by the light guide plate (for example, Patent Documents). 1). In this labeling device, the light emitting diode is disposed on the side surface of the light guide plate, and the light from the light emitting diode is reflected on the surface of the light guide plate by the reflection plate disposed on the back surface of the light guide plate, and is formed on the back surface of the light guide plate. The reflective dots emit light uniformly. A retroreflective plate is disposed on the surface of the light guide plate, and the retroreflective plate is made of, for example, a sign such as a letter or a figure that is translucent and the surroundings are made nontranslucent and configured with a retroreflective prism. The sign is illuminated with light from the light-emitting diode, and external rays are retroreflected.

As another type of this kind, an electric decoration signboard including a light guide plate, a reflection plate, a light diffusion plate, and a display sheet is also provided (see, for example, Patent Document 2). In this, the light source is disposed on the side surface of the light guide plate, and the light from the light source is reflected on the surface of the light guide plate by the reflection plate disposed on the back surface of the light guide plate and is disposed on the surface of the light guide plate. The signs such as characters and figures on the display sheet arranged on the light diffusion plate are shined.
JP-A-10-105094 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-011001

  These are placed outdoors and installed at a high place, and a strong support structure cannot be obtained. In addition, they are subjected to considerable vibrations due to the passage of vehicles, etc., so they are required to be as light as possible. Yes. However, none of the above-described conventional devices focus on improving the visibility only, and do not pursue such a problem.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a traffic sign apparatus that can be miniaturized and manufactured at low cost as well as having high visibility.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 includes a light guide plate, a light emitting diode disposed on a side surface of the light guide plate, a reflection sheet disposed on a back surface of the light guide plate, and a front surface of the light guide plate. A display sheet on which a display including signs such as characters and figures is printed, and a case that accommodates the display sheet; a light-emitting diode is disposed inside the light guide plate and disposed on a side surface of the light guide plate; The case is made of a hollow body having an opening covered with a transparent protective plate and an elastic resin coating layer disposed opposite to the protective plate. The display is exposed to the outside through the opening, and is pressed against the protective plate by the elastic resin coating layer. The traffic sign device is characterized in that a reflecting sheet, a light guide plate, and a display sheet are accommodated.

  In addition to the configuration of the traffic sign device according to claim 1, the invention according to claim 2 has a function in which the display sheet diffuses and transmits light from the light emitting diode and retroreflects light from the outside of the device. It is characterized by having.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the traffic sign device according to the first or second aspect, a plurality of light emitting diode arrays in which light emitting diodes are mounted on a printed circuit board in a line. The light emitting diode array is arranged in a light emitter housing recess provided on a side surface of the light guide plate, and the printed board is fitted in a substrate support groove formed in the light emitter housing recess. Yes.

  The invention of claim 1 is a light guide plate, a light emitting diode disposed on a side surface of the light guide plate, a reflection sheet disposed on the back surface of the light guide plate, and a sign such as a character or a graphic disposed on the front surface of the light guide plate. A display sheet printed with a display including a case and a case that accommodates the display sheet, the light-emitting diode is placed inside the light guide plate and disposed on the side of the light guide plate, and the case is covered with a transparent protective plate Reflective sheet, light guide plate and display sheet comprising a hollow body having an elastic resin coating layer disposed opposite to the opening and the protective plate, exposing the display to the outside through the opening, and press-contacting the protective plate with the elastic resin coating layer Since the light from the light-emitting diode travels while totally reflecting off the light guide plate, the direction is changed by the reflection sheet, and the light is emitted from the front surface of the light guide plate. Brightness In emit light. For this reason, visibility is very high.

  In addition, the linear illuminant is disposed inside the light guide plate from the side surface of the light guide plate, and does not require extra space outside the side surface of the light guide plate. The carrier of a sign such as a figure is constituted by a sheet, and the sign is formed by printing on the display sheet, and the reflective sheet, the light guide plate and the display sheet are protected by an elastic resin coating layer formed by applying an elastic resin. The thickness is reduced by pressing the plate against the plate. For this reason, the entire apparatus becomes compact, and even if there is some distortion or warpage in the case, the optical system can be securely adhered, so that the manufacturing can be performed at low cost. Since the weight is reduced, it can be easily installed on a pole or transported.

  In the invention of claim 2, in addition to the configuration of the traffic sign device according to claim 1, the display sheet has a function of diffusing and transmitting light from the light emitting diode and retroreflecting light from the outside of the device. Therefore, in addition to the effect produced by the traffic sign device according to claim 1, it is possible to obtain the effect that the visibility is further improved without increasing the thickness of the device.

  The invention of claim 3 is in the form of a plurality of light emitting diode arrays in which the light emitting diodes are mounted in a line on the printed circuit board in addition to the configuration of the traffic sign device according to claim 1 or claim 2, The light emitting diode array is disposed in a light emitter housing recess provided on a side surface of the light guide plate, and the printed circuit board is fitted in a substrate support groove formed in the light emitter housing recess, so that the light emitting diode array is placed in the light receiving plate housing recess. In addition to the effects of the traffic sign device described in 2, the positioning of a large number of light-emitting diodes can be easily performed, and not only the initial assembly in the factory but also the reassembly work in the event of maintenance or failure Can do.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the reflective dots for controlling the light emitted from the light emitting diodes to emit light with uniform brightness on the front surface of the light guide plate are formed on the back surface of the light guide plate, but formed on the front surface of the reflective sheet. May be. When the reflective dots are formed on the front surface of the reflective sheet, it is not necessary to process the light guide plate which is heavy and easily damaged. Therefore, the reflective dots can be easily formed and manufactured at low cost.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of a traffic sign device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the traffic sign apparatus includes a light guide plate 10, a light source 20, a reflection sheet 30, and a display sheet 40. The display sheet 40 and the reflection sheet 30 have substantially the same size as the light guide plate 10.

  The light guide plate 10 is made of a transparent synthetic resin plate such as an acrylic resin, for example. The reflective dot pattern is formed on the back surface 11 of the light guide plate 10. The light source includes a light emitting diode array 20 and is disposed on the side surface 12 of the light guide plate 10. The reflection sheet 30 is made of a sheet of synthetic resin, paper, metal, or the like. The display sheet 40 is made of a transparent synthetic resin sheet, and has a white surface composed of a triangular figure having a certain width similar to the outer shape of the traffic sign device or a character such as “stop” on the front surface facing the light guide plate 10. A sign 41 and a red background 42 are provided. The reflection sheet 30 is laminated on the back surface 11 of the light guide plate 10, the display sheet 40 is laminated on the front surface 13 of the light guide plate 10, and the display sheet 40 is laminated on the display sheet 40. This laminate is stored inside the case 50 with the sign 41 and the background 42 of the display sheet 40 exposed to the outside.

  Light from each light emitting diode 21 enters from the side surface 12 of the light guide plate 10, travels while being totally reflected inside the light guide plate 10, and is reflected by the reflective dots on the back surface 11 of the light guide plate 10. Of the light reflected by the reflective dots, light having a component smaller than the total reflection angle is emitted from the front surface 13 of the light guide plate 10 to cause the display sheet 40 to emit light with uniform brightness.

  In the traffic sign apparatus according to the present invention, the light-emitting diode 21 is inserted into the light guide plate 10 and disposed on the side surface 12 of the light guide plate 10 to reduce the width of the device. It is made small by devising. explain in detail.

  The light emitting diode array 20 is formed by mounting bullet-type light emitting diodes 21 that emit beam-shaped white light on a printed circuit board 22 having a width substantially equal to the thickness of the light guide plate 10 in a straight line. The light emitting diodes 21 are closely arranged on the printed circuit board 22, and are connected in series or in parallel to a conductor formed on the printed circuit board 22. A plurality of the light emitting diode arrays 20 are installed on each of the side surfaces 12 of the light guide plate 10. The light guide plate 10 is attached to the light guide plate 10 by notching the side surface 12 to form the light emitter housing recesses 15 and providing the substrate support grooves 16 on the parallel flat walls of the light emitter housing recesses 15. 16, both ends of the printed circuit board 22 are fitted. For this reason, not only can the thickness of the surface light emitting means comprising the light guide plate 10 and the light emitting diode array 20 be reduced, but also the gap between the inner wall of the case 50 and the side surface of the light guide plate 10 can be minimized. It becomes possible. And positioning of many light emitting diodes 21 becomes easy, and the initial assembly in a factory and the reassembly after installation can be performed easily. Each light emitting diode array 20 is connected to a control circuit board (not shown) incorporated in the case 50 by a cable and a connector.

  The reflective dot pattern formed on the back surface 11 of the light guide plate 10 includes a reflective dot region 17 and a reflective dot region 18 as shown in FIG. The reflective dot region 17 has a reflective dot close to the light emitting diode array 20 that is small and a farthest reflective dot that is large, and the light guide plate 10 has an effective reflective area that decreases according to the distance from the center. . The reflective dot region 18 scatters light from the vicinity of the light emitting portion of each light emitting diode 21 toward the back surface 11 of the light guide plate 10 and directs it toward the front surface 13 of the light guide plate 10, and between the light emitting diode 21 and the light emitting diode 21. It is formed as a reflective dot pattern that eliminates uneven brightness between the light emitting diode array 20 and the light emitting diode array 20.

  Light emitted from the light emitting diodes 21 of each light emitting diode array 20 is incident from the side surface 12 of the light guide plate 10 and travels while totally reflecting the inside of the light guide plate 10, and the reflective dots on the back surface 11 of the light guide plate 10. Reflected by region 17. Of the light reflected by the reflective dot region 17, light having a component smaller than the total reflection angle is emitted from the front surface 13 of the light guide plate 10 and causes the front surface 13 of the light guide plate 10 to emit light with uniform brightness. At this time, since the amount of light in the vicinity of the light emitting portion of the light emitting diode 21 is large, if the light emitting diode array 20 enters the inside of the light guide plate 10, the brightness at the periphery and the center of the light guide plate 10 becomes uneven. In particular, when the light-emitting diode 21 is formed of a shell type with a small emission angle and is disposed so as to enter the light guide plate 10, a streak of light having high luminance appears in the vicinity of the light guide plate 10. However, the reflection dot region 18 reflects the light around the total reflection angle out of the outgoing light from the vicinity of the light emitting part of the light emitting diode 21 toward the back surface 11 of the light guide plate 10 and directs it toward the front surface 13 of the light guide plate 11. The brightness between the light emitting diodes 21 and 21 and between the light emitting diode array 20 and the light emitting diode array 20 is increased, and the front surface 13 of the light guide plate 11 is caused to emit light with uniform brightness.

  Further, in this traffic sign device, the display sheet 40 has a retroreflective function with a large number of cube corners. For example, as described in US Pat. No. 4,478,769, a base layer formed with a large number of prisms having cubic corners and a surface layer formed with prisms that fit into these prisms, The sheet is made of a thin sheet having a structure in which the prisms are fitted together and the base layer and the surface layer are bonded together by a transparent adhesive.

  When the light emitting diode array 20 is turned on, the display sheet 40 can diffuse and emit the light emitted from the light emitting surface of the light guide plate 10 by the prism, and can brighten the sign 41 clearly. When the light is extinguished, the external ray incident on the sign 41 is reflected by the reflecting surface of the prism here, and then reflected again by the reflecting surface of the adjacent prism and returned to the external light source, that is, retroreflected, The sign 41 is brightly shined so that the driver and a passerby can clearly see the sign 41.

  Since this function is performed by a single sheet to reduce the thickness, the light guide plate 10, the reflection sheet 30, and the display sheet 40 are combined with the fact that the sign 41 and the background 42 are the display sheet 40. The thickness of the optical system formed by is also small.

  In addition, this traffic sign device reduces the manufacturing cost of the device by adopting a cannonball type light emitting diode 21, and makes the device compact and lightweight by arranging the light emitting diode 21 so as to enter the inside of the light guide plate 10. In addition to reducing the cost for installation and transportation to the case, the case 50 is also devised to reduce the thickness and reduce the manufacturing cost.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the case 50 has a hollow structure and includes a back case 51 and a front case 52. The back case 51 and the front case 52 are made of, for example, an aluminum plate welded structure. The back case 51 is formed in a shallow box shape with the front part opened. The front case 52 has a shallow box shape with a back portion having an opening 54 in the front wall 53, and the opening 54 is covered with a protective plate 58. The protective plate 58 is made of a transparent synthetic resin plate such as acrylic resin or polycarbonate resin, and is disposed inside the front case 52 so as to cover the opening 54 and is adhered to the inner surface of the front wall 53.

  The case 50 covers the front case 52 over the back case 51, and as shown in FIG. 5, the end portion of the side wall 55 of the back case 51 is made of a synthetic rubber or the like on the inner surface of the front wall 53 of the front case 52. It is comprised by pressing-contacting to 56.

  The light guide plate 10, the reflection sheet 30 and the display sheet 40 expose the label 41 and the background 42 of the display sheet 40 from the protective plate 58 or the opening 54 of the front case 52, and between the protective plate 58 and the elastic resin coating layer 57. The case is housed inside the case. The back case 51 and the front case 52 are coupled by, for example, fastening with a bolt (not shown) that is fixed to the back of the front wall of the front case 52 and the opposite side passes through the optical system and the back case 51. It has been broken. The case 50 has a small thickness because the depth of the back case 51 only needs to correspond to the thickness of the optical system including the display sheet 40, the display sheet 40, the light guide plate 10, and the reflection sheet 30. For this reason, coupled with the small apparatus width, the entire apparatus is compact and lightweight. The back case 51 has a one-piece structure, and the front case 52 closes the opening 54 with a transparent protective plate 58 to prevent water from entering from the opening 54, and the end face of the side wall 55 of the back case 51. Is pressed against the inner surface of the front case 52 via the gasket 56 to prevent water from entering between the front case 52 and the back case 51, so that high water tightness can be obtained without increasing the thickness.

  Furthermore, in this marking device, an elastic resin coating layer 57 is provided on the inner surface of the back wall 59 of the back case 51. The elastic resin application layer 57 is formed, for example, by applying an elastic resin such as urethane resin paint. When the back case 51 and the front case 52 are coupled, the elastic resin coating layer 57 is bent, and the light guide plate 10, the reflective sheet 30, and the display sheet 40 are brought into close contact with the protective plate 58 by the repulsive force. For this reason, optical loss is small. Furthermore, since the thickness of the elastic resin coating layer 57 is thin, the apparatus thickness is kept thin, and even if the flatness of the back wall 59 of the back case 51 is poor, the elastic resin coating layer 57 absorbs this and leads it. In order to ensure that the optical plate 10, the reflection sheet 30, and the display sheet 40 are in close contact with each other, the back case 51 is manufactured at a low cost.

The front view which shows one Example of the traffic marking device of this invention. The bottom view of the traffic sign apparatus shown in FIG. The front view which fractured | ruptured a part of traffic sign apparatus shown in FIG. Sectional drawing in alignment with line 4-4 in FIG. The expansion perspective view made into the cross section along line 5-5 in FIG. The rear view of the light-guide plate in alignment with line 6-6 in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Light guide plate 11 ... Light guide plate back surface 12 ... Light guide plate side surface 13 ... Light guide plate front surface 15 ... Light-emitting body accommodation recessed part 16 ... Board | substrate support groove | channel 17, 18 ... Reflection dot Area 20 ... Light emitting diode array 21 ... Light emitting diode 22 ... Printed circuit board 30 ... Reflective sheet 40 ... Display sheet 41 ... Label 42 ... Background 50 ... Case 54 ...・ Case opening 56 ・ ・ ・ Gasket 57 ・ ・ ・ Elastic resin coating layer 58 ・ ・ ・ Protective plate

Claims (3)

A display including a light guide plate, a light emitting diode disposed on a side surface of the light guide plate, a reflective sheet disposed on a back surface of the light guide plate, and a sign such as a character or a graphic disposed on the front surface of the light guide plate. Having a printed display sheet and a case for accommodating them;
The light emitting diode is inserted into the light guide plate and disposed on a side surface of the light guide plate, and the case is provided with an opening covered with a transparent protective plate and an elastic resin coating layer disposed opposite to the protective plate. Comprising the hollow body, exposing the display to the outside through the opening, and pressing the protective plate with the elastic resin coating layer to accommodate the reflective sheet, the light guide plate, and the display sheet;
Traffic signage device characterized by   The traffic sign device according to claim 1, wherein the display sheet has a function of diffusing and transmitting light from the light emitting diode and retroreflecting light from outside the device. The light emitting diodes are in the form of a plurality of light emitting diode arrays mounted on a printed circuit board in a line,
The light emitting diode array is disposed in a light emitter housing recess provided on the side surface of the light guide plate, and the printed circuit board is fitted in a substrate support groove formed in the light emitter housing recess. The traffic sign device according to claim 1 or 2.

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