JPH1063191A - Display board - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a display board of which maintenance and inspection are easy and which does not basically consume electric power. SOLUTION: This display board consists of an acrylate plate 11 which has been subjected to etching on its one surface, a reflection plate 10 which is laminated on this etched surface, a transmissible sheet 12 which is laminated on the non-etched surface and arbitrary characters or sings affixed to the front surface of this transmissible sheet 12. Light is made incident on the acrylic plate 12 from at least one end surface of the four circumferential end faces of the acrylic plate. At least any one side of the four peripheries of the acrylic plate 11 is turned back to the reflection plate 10 side by the curved surface and its end face is exposed to the reflection plate 10 side. The end faces of plural optical fibers are otherwise arrayed on at least one end face of the acrylic plate 11 and the other side end faces of these optical fibers are bundled. The light is made incident from the bundled end face.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display panel of a self-luminous type, and is particularly effectively applied to a road signboard in an environment where it is difficult to read due to backlight.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it is known to use a self-luminous type device as a road signboard or sign at night on a motorway. As a specific configuration, there is an example in which a guide character display sheet is attached to the front side of a milky white acrylic plate, and a fluorescent lamp is irradiated from the back side of the acrylic plate.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, a plurality of fluorescent lamps must be used for one display panel, so that power consumption is large, and maintenance and inspection must be performed according to the life of the fluorescent lamps. It takes time and effort. In particular, if you want to use it effectively during backlighting, such as on a west day in the daytime, you must keep the fluorescent lamp on at all times.
The problem of power consumption is very significant.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a display panel which can be easily maintained and inspected and basically does not require power consumption.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an acrylic plate having one side etched, a reflector laminated on the etched side, and a non-etched side are provided. And an arbitrary character or sign attached to the surface of the transparent sheet, and a means for allowing light to enter from at least one of the four peripheral end surfaces of the acrylic plate was used. More specifically, two separate means were used. That is, one is a means in which at least one of the four circumferences of the acrylic plate is folded back to the reflection plate side with a curved surface, and the end face is exposed to the reflection plate side. The other is a means for arranging end faces of a plurality of optical fibers on at least one end face of an acrylic plate, converging the other end faces of these optical fibers, and allowing light to enter from the converged end face. Either natural light or an artificial light source such as a halogen light source was used as light to be incident on the end face.

Acrylic resin has the following optical properties:
It has the property of transmitting light incident from any of the end faces while reflecting the light internally. Therefore, when light is incident from the end face, it is transmitted to another end face, but is emitted from this etched face if another face is etched. That is, the light incident from the end surface exits from the etched surface, and it looks as if the etched surface is emitting light. Thus, by stacking a reflector on the etched surface, it appears that the opposite side emits light.
Then, if a transparent sheet is laminated on this surface, the whole emits colored light according to the color. If an opaque character or sign is attached to the transparent sheet, the background is colored and emits light, so that the sign or display can be identified.

When the light incident from the end face is natural light, the display can be easily read even on a display panel in a backlight position by directly incident the sunshine. Further, when an artificial light source is used, it functions as a forced light source, so that it can be used even at night.

[0008]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of a display panel. Reference numeral 1 denotes an acrylic plate having an appropriate thickness, which is folded around a curved surface so that its end surface is parallel to a front flat portion. Acrylic light emitting plate, 2 is a colored transmissive sheet adhered to the plane portion of the acrylic light emitting plate, 3 is an impermeable cutting sheet cut out of characters for functioning as a display plate and adhered to the surface of the transmissive sheet. is there. FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the display plate, and a reflective plate is adhered to the back surface of the acrylic light emitting plate 1. The surface of the acrylic light emitting plate 1 on the side of the reflection plate 4 on the flat portion is etched so that the entire flat portion emits light. 1a is a bent portion of the acrylic light emitting plate 1, 1
b is an end face formed by bending the acrylic light emitting plate 1. Here, if light such as sunlight enters the end face 1b of the acrylic light emitting plate, the incident light is transmitted while being reflected internally by the optical properties of the acrylic resin. However, since the etching is applied to the reflection plate 4 side of the flat portion of the acrylic light emitting plate 1, the light incident from the end face 1b is emitted from the etched portion, and it looks as if it emits light. This light is reflected by the reflector 4 and projected toward the front. Then, when the transmission sheet 2 is blue, for example, it looks as if it emits blue light. Since the characters and signs drawn on the cutting sheet 3 are opaque, only the background shines and shadows appear. It is possible to decipher the characters and signatures that have changed. The color of the transmissive sheet 2 is not limited to blue, but may be any color as long as it can be colored with transparency such as green.

When the display panel of the above embodiment is installed, for example, such that the end face 1b of the acrylic light emitting panel 1 faces west, even if the front of the display panel is in a backlight position due to the west sun,
The sunlight incident from the end face 1b of the acrylic light emitting plate exits from the etched surface and emits light.
As a result, it appears as if the light is self-luminous, and the display can be easily confirmed even in the case of backlight. The brightness due to light emission is basically determined in accordance with the total area of the end face 1b of the acrylic light emitting plate.
It can be set freely according to the installation location, for example, when the area of b is widened or when only the upper and lower sides are folded back. Further, the thickness of the acrylic plate can be freely changed as appropriate.

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Here, 10 is a reflecting plate, 11 is an acrylic light emitting plate, 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes a transmission sheet, and reference numeral 13 denotes an impermeable cutting sheet, each having the same function and configuration as in the first embodiment. 14... 14 are acrylic fibers functioning as a large number of optical fibers. It constitutes one incident surface 14a. Then, the light incident surface 14a is installed in a direction in which the west sun easily enters. By doing so, the acrylic fiber 14 can transmit the incident light and make it incident from both end faces 11a and 11b of the acrylic light emitting plate 11, so that the acrylic light emitting plate 11 is etched as in the first embodiment. The light is emitted from the surface, and the light is reflected by the reflection plate 10 and is reflected to the front side, so that the transmission sheet 12 generates colored light. The acrylic fibers 14 can be freely arranged not only at the two end faces but also around the circumference of the acrylic plate 11, and the diameter of the acrylic fibers 14 may be changed according to the amount of light to be obtained. This is the same as the embodiment. In the present embodiment, acrylic fibers are used in terms of cost and the like, but the use of glass fibers does not affect the basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a modification of the second embodiment, in which a forced light source is provided when sunlight or natural light cannot be expected, such as at night. Reference numeral 15 denotes a light source, and reference numeral 16 denotes a reflecting mirror. The reflecting mirror 16 is provided on the bottom surface of the cylindrical body 17, and the light source 15 is located between the end face 14a of the acrylic fiber and the reflecting mirror 16. In this way, the light emitted from the light source 15 is incident on the end face 14a and simultaneously condensed on the end face 14a by the reflecting mirror 16, so that stable and efficient light emission becomes possible. In order to efficiently collect light, it is preferable to position the end face 14a near the focal point F of the reflecting mirror 16 as illustrated. Although a halogen light source is suitable as the light source 15 in consideration of the light amount and the life, other materials such as a xenon tube, a light emitting diode, and a plasma tube can be appropriately changed according to the size and light emitting area of the display panel. In the present embodiment, if the opening side of the cylindrical body 17 is shielded, only the light source 15 is used. However, if the opening is directed toward the west sun, natural light and the forced light source can be shared. . Of course, these aspects can be appropriately selected.

[0012]

According to the present invention, since the above-described configuration is employed, it is possible to provide a display panel which can use natural light at daytime and emit light at night using a forced light source. Therefore, when used for a road signboard, a sign, or the like in a backlight position, a safe display requiring almost no maintenance can be provided. In addition, since the display panel can have an arbitrary color tone at night, the display panel can be widely used for advertisements and advertisements.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a modified example of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 acrylic light-emitting plate 2 transmission sheet 3 cutting sheet 4 reflection plate 10 reflection plate 11 acrylic light-emitting plate 12 transmission sheet 13 cutting sheet 14 acrylic fiber 15 light source 16 reflector 17 cylindrical body

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An acrylic plate having one surface etched, a reflector laminated on the etched surface, a transparent sheet laminated on a non-etched surface, and affixed to the surface of the transparent sheet. A display panel comprising an arbitrary character or sign described above, wherein light is incident from at least one of the four peripheral end surfaces of the acrylic plate. 2. The display plate according to claim 1, wherein the acrylic plate has at least one of its four circumferences folded back toward the reflection plate side with a curved surface, and the end surface is exposed to the reflection plate side. 3. The display panel according to claim 1, wherein end faces of a plurality of optical fibers are arranged on at least one end face of the acrylic plate, the other end faces of the optical fibers are focused, and light is incident from the converged end face. . 4. The display panel according to claim 2, wherein the light to be incident is natural light. 5. The display panel according to claim 2, wherein the incident light is an artificial light source.