Instrument for vehicle

Abstract

A dial, an LED, a black print film and a liquid crystal display panel are provided. A non-black print region where the black print film is absent is provided in, of a back surface of the dial, a circumferential part surrounding an opening and including an inner edge defining the opening.

Claims

1. An instrument for a vehicle, comprising: a dial including a translucent display design that is visually recognizable from the front of the instrument for a vehicle, and an opening; a light-shading black print film that is formed on a back surface of the dial and contains carbon black; and a liquid crystal display panel that is disposed on the dial so that a display surface of the liquid crystal display panel is visually recognizable from the opening; wherein: a non-black print region where the black print film is absent is provided in, of the back surface of the dial, a circumferential part surrounding the opening and including an inner edge defining the opening.

2. The instrument for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the non-black print region is provided in, of the back surface of the dial, a part where the dial touches another member.

3. The instrument for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a white print film is formed in the non-black print region.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a front view of a combination meter that is an instrument for a vehicle according to an embodiment of the invention.

(2) FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken from arrows A-A in FIG. 1.

(3) FIG. 3 is a front view of a dial in the combination meter according to the embodiment.

(4) FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a red print portion (portion C in FIG. 3) of the dial in FIG. 3.

(5) FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are views in which the dial is observed from its back, FIG. 5A being a back view of the dial in the combination meter according to the embodiment of the invention, FIG. 5B being a back view of a dial shown as a comparative example.

(6) FIG. 6 is a sectional view for explaining problems in the comparative example of FIG. 5B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(7) An embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(8) FIG. 1 is a front view of a combination meter that is an instrument for a vehicle according to the embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken from arrows A-A in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a front view of a dial. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a red print portion (portion C in FIG. 3) of the dial in FIG. 3.

(9) As shown in FIG. 1, a combination meter 1 is disposed in a position where the combination meter 1 can be visually recognized from a driver seated on a driver's seat of a vehicle. The combination meter 1 includes a speed meter 2 indicating a traveling speed of the vehicle, a rotation meter 3 indicating an engine speed, a water temperature gauge 4 indicating a temperature of cooling water, a fuel gauge 5 indicating a remaining quantity of fuel, a shift indicator 6 indicating a shift range, a direction indicator 7, a liquid crystal display panel 8 serving as an odo/trip meter, various warning lights 9, etc. as various display units. The reference numeral 10 represents a shift knob 10 of the odo/trip meter.

(10) As shown in FIG. 2, the combination meter 1 includes a casing 11 made of a resin formed product, a dial 20 disposed on the front surface side of the casing 11, a circuit board 12 disposed on the rear surface side of the casing 11, an LED (illuminating unit) 13 mounted on the circuit board 12 and illuminating the dial 20 from its back, an LED (light source) 14 mounted on the circuit board 12 as a backlight of the liquid crystal display panel 8, a pointer 15 disposed on the front surface of the dial 20, a movement 16 mounted on the back surface of the circuit board 12 in order to drive the pointer 15, a facing 17 disposed on the front surface of the dial 20, a front glass 18 disposed in front of the dial 20 and the facing 17, and a back cover 19 disposed at the rear of the circuit board 12.

(11) In the dial 20, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a body 20A is formed of a translucent thin plate such as transparent polycarbonate resin or acrylic resin. The dial 20 has display designs 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 29 such as characters and scales corresponding to the speed meter 2, the rotation meter 3, the water temperature gauge 4, the fuel gauge 5, the shift indicator 6, the direction indicator 7 and the various warning lights 9 respectively in its front surface (surface that can be visually recognized by the driver). In addition, the dial 20 is provided with pointer shaft holes 32, 33, 34 and 35, a knob hole 36, a positioning groove 41, positioning grooves 42 and 43, etc. corresponding to the speed meter 2, the rotation meter 3, the water temperature gauge 4 and the fuel gauge 5.

(12) Further, a rectangular opening 28 is provided under the position of the dial 20 corresponding to the speed meter 2. The liquid crystal display panel 8 is disposed on the back surface side of the opening 28 so that the circumferential edge of the liquid crystal display panel 8 can be brought into tight contact with the inner edge defining the opening 28. Thus, the display surface of the liquid crystal display panel 8 can be visually recognized from the front of the instrument.

(13) The translucent display designs 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 29 are formed as transparent color print portions Wr. A black print film Ba that is a light-shading print is formed on the front-side surface of the body 20A of the dial 20 located at the circumferential edges of the display designs. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, a translucent red print film R is formed in each of predetermined sites 23a and 24a of the display designs 23 and 24 and on the surface of the body 20A of the dial 20. A black print film Ba that is a light-shading print is formed on the surface of the body 20A of the dial 20 located at the circumferential edge of the red print film R. When illuminated by the LED 13 from the back surface of the dial 20, the display designs 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 29 appear to emit light brightly. Incidentally, although a white print film Wb and a black print film Bb are formed on the back surface of the dial 20 in FIG. 4, the white print film Wb and the black print film Bb will be described later.

(14) FIGS. 5 are views in which the dial 20 is observed from its back. FIG. 5A is a back view of the dial 20 in the combination meter according to the embodiment of the invention. FIG. 5B is a back view of a dial 120 shown as a comparative example.

(15) As shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, the black print film Bb is formed on the back surface (reverse side) of each dial 20, 120 in order to prevent light from leaking. The white print film Wb for using reflection of light effectively as illumination light is formed in the other part than the region where the black print film Bb is formed. The white print film Wb is formed not to disturb the translucency of each display design 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the white print film Wb is formed not to be located at places corresponding to the display designs 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 29. On the other hand, carbon black having conductivity is contained together with an insulating material in black ink used for forming the black print film Bb.

(16) As shown in FIG. 5B, in the dial 120 according to the comparative example, the black print film Bb is formed on the back surface of the dial 120 to reach the inner edge defining the opening 28 in order to prevent light from leaking from the opening 28 to which the liquid crystal display panel 8 is attached. When the black print film Bb is thus formed to reach the inner edge of the opening 28, the circumferential edge of the liquid crystal panel 8 and the black print film Bb touch each other when the circumferential edge of the liquid crystal display panel 8 is brought into tight contact with a circumferential part of the body 20A surrounding the opening 28, as shown in FIG. 6. Thus, charges M of static electricity can migrate to the liquid crystal display panel 8 through the black print film Bb. As a result, there is a fear that the charges M may affect display on the liquid crystal display panel 8.

(17) In the dial 20 of the combination meter according to the embodiment of the invention, in contrast to the aforementioned comparative example, the black print film Bb is not formed in a circumferential part surrounding the opening 28 and including the inner edge defining the opening 28, but a non-black print region where the black print film is absent is formed. In the embodiment, a white print portion Wb1 is formed as the non-black print region in the circumferential part surrounding the opening 28. In addition, white print portions Wb2 and Wb3 are also formed in parts that touch another member than the liquid crystal display panel, such as the facing 17 or the casing 11.

(18) In this manner, according to the embodiment, the non-black print region (white print portion Wb1) where the black print film Bb containing carbon black is absent is provided in, of the back surface of the dial 20, the part surrounding the opening 28 and including the inner edge defining the opening 28. Accordingly, static electricity accumulated in the black print film Bb formed on the back surface of the dial can be suppressed from flowing into the liquid crystal display panel 8. It is therefore possible to suppress occurrence of improper display on the liquid crystal display panel 8.

(19) In addition, the non-black regions (white print portions Wb2 and Wb3) are formed in the parts where the dial 20 touches another member such as the facing 17 or the casing 11 and which are regions where charges may be generated largely. Accordingly, static electricity can be suppressed from flowing into the black print film Bb formed on the back surface of the dial 20. It is therefore possible to suppress migration of static electricity to the liquid crystal display panel 8 as much as possible. In addition, due to each white print film Wb (white print portions Wb1, Wb2 and Wb3) formed in each non-black print region, it is possible to easily distinguish between a conductive region where the black print film Bb has been formed and a non-conductive region where the white print film Wb has been formed.

(20) Incidentally, due to the black print film Ba formed on the front surface side of the dial 20 (see FIG. 4), a required shading property (effect of preventing light from leaking) can be secured at each place where the black print film Bb is not formed on the back surface of the dial 20. In addition, as for the shift indicator 6 or the various warning lights 9, the white print film Wb is formed on the back surface side of the dial 20, but a required shading property (effect of preventing light from leaking) can be secured by the black print film Ba formed at a required place on the front surface side.

(21) Further, the invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiment, but suitable deformations, improvements and so on may be made thereon. In addition, materials, shapes, dimensions, numbers, arrangement places, etc. of constituent elements in the aforementioned embodiment are not limited but may be selected desirably if the invention can be attained.

(22) For example, although the opening 28 formed in the dial 20 serves as an opening in the aforementioned embodiment, the opening 28 may be made of a transparent body 20A of the dial 20 as long as the display contents of the liquid crystal panel 8 can be observed from the front.

(23) Here, the aforementioned features of the embodiment of the instrument for a vehicle according to the invention will be summarized and listed in the following paragraphs respectively. [1] An instrument (combination meter 1) for a vehicle, including:

(24) a dial (20) including translucent display designs (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 29) that is visually recognizable from the front of the instrument for a vehicle, and an opening (28);

(25) a light-shading black print film (Bb) that is formed on a back surface of the dial and contains carbon black; and

(26) a liquid crystal display panel (8) that is disposed on the dial so that a display surface of the liquid crystal display panel is visually recognizable from the opening; wherein:

(27) a non-black print region (white print portion Wb1) where the black print film is absent is provided in, of the back surface of the dial, a circumferential part surrounding the opening and including an inner edge defining the opening. [2] The instrument for a vehicle according to the paragraph [1], wherein:

(28) the non-black print region (white print portions Wb2 and Wb3) is provided in, of the back surface of the dial, a part where the dial touches another member. [3] The instrument for a vehicle according to the paragraph [1], wherein:

(29) a white print film is formed in the non-black print region.

(30) Although the invention has been described in detail and with reference to its specific embodiment, it is obvious for those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be applied to the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

(31) According to the invention, static electricity accumulated in a black print film formed on a back surface of a dial in order to secure a shading property can be suppressed from flowing into a liquid crystal display panel. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain an effect that it is possible to suppress occurrence of improper display on the liquid crystal display panel. The invention showing the effect is useful for an instrument for a vehicle such as a combination meter to be mounted on a vehicle.