Structure of infrared receiving section of apparatus

Abstract

To provide a structure of an infrared receiving section of an apparatus that can satisfactorily receive infrared signals without degrading the appearance of the apparatus.SOLUTION: A structure of an infrared receiving section 2 is provided in an apparatus 1 operated by an infrared signal transmitted from a remote control and receives the infrared signal transmitted from the remote control. The infrared receiving section 2 includes: a through hole 8 formed by penetrating a part of an exterior wall panel 3a that constitutes a casing 3 of the apparatus 1; and an infrared transmission member 4 inserted into the through hole 8. The infrared transmission member 4 is formed from a synthetic resin film, and includes a flat base 6 and a raised portion 7 that rises from the base 6 in a shape corresponding to the through hole 8. The raised portion 7 is inserted into the through hole 8 from the back side of the exterior wall panel 3a, and the base 6 is bonded to the back side of the exterior wall panel via bonding means 9.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a structure of an infrared receiving section in a device that is operated by a remote control having an infrared transmitting section. [Background technology]

[0002] An apparatus that is operated by an infrared signal from a remote control is provided with an infrared receiving section that receives the infrared signal transmitted from the remote control.

[0003] One example of this type of infrared receiving unit is one in which a light receiving element is provided inside a device such as an LCD television, and a light guide is arranged on the underside of the front surface of the casing that houses the screen to guide an infrared signal from a remote control to the light receiving element (see Patent Document 1 below).

[0004] In this display, a decorative sheet is provided so as to cover a light guide. The light guide is inserted into a through hole that penetrates a casing that houses a screen, and the decorative sheet is provided by adhering to a relatively wide area on the lower front side of the casing, including the upper surface of the light guide. The back surface of the decorative sheet is adhered to the front surface of the casing via an adhesive means such as double-sided tape. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2014-175990 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] In the above-mentioned conventional infrared receiving unit structure, a decorative sheet is attached over a relatively wide area to cover the light guide, which is exposed on the front surface of the casing. In this case, the decorative sheet is made of a material with a relatively high transparency in order to transmit infrared signals.

[0007] However, decorative sheets designed to allow infrared signals to pass through have the disadvantage that the adhesive means, such as double-sided tape, provided on the back side of the decorative sheet is easily visible through the sheet, which detracts from the appearance of the device.

[0008] In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide an infrared receiving structure for a device that can receive infrared signals satisfactorily without degrading the appearance of the device. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a structure of an infrared receiving unit that is provided in an appliance operated by an infrared signal transmitted from a remote control and receives the infrared signal transmitted from the remote control, the infrared receiving unit comprising a through hole formed by penetrating a portion of an exterior wall panel constituting a casing of the appliance, and an infrared transparent member inserted into the through hole, the infrared transparent member being formed from a synthetic resin film and comprising a flat base and a raised portion that rises from the base in a shape corresponding to the through hole, the raised portion being inserted into the through hole from the back side of the exterior wall panel of the casing, and the base being adhered to the back side of the exterior wall panel of the casing via an adhesive means.

[0010] According to the present invention, the raised portion of the infrared ray transmitting member is inserted into the through hole from the rear surface side of the exterior wall panel of the casing, and the base portion of the infrared ray transmitting member is adhered to the rear surface of the exterior wall panel via the adhesive means.

[0011] Since the base of the infrared-transmitting member is located on the back side of the exterior wall panel, it cannot be seen from the front side of the exterior wall panel, preventing deterioration of the appearance and improving the aesthetic appearance of the equipment.

[0012] Therefore, deterioration of the appearance of the device due to the infrared receiving portion can be prevented, and further, since the infrared transmitting member of the infrared transmitting portion is formed from a synthetic resin film, the infrared signal can be transmitted reliably.

[0013] Furthermore, since the infrared-transparent member is formed from a synthetic resin film, even if the back surface of the exterior wall panel of the casing is curved, the base of the infrared-transparent member can bend along the back surface of the exterior wall panel and the base of the infrared-transparent member and the back surface of the exterior wall panel can be adhered closely to each other via the adhesive means, so that the strong adhesion state of the infrared-transparent member is maintained and the durability of the infrared receiving unit is improved.

[0014] In the present invention, an infrared receiving element is provided inside the casing opposite to the rear surface side of the raised portion of the infrared transmitting member.

[0015] Since the infrared-transmitting member is made of a synthetic resin film, a concave space is formed on the rear side of the protuberance. The outer periphery of the protuberance is covered by the inner periphery of the through hole, so the infrared signal is incident from the top of the protuberance. As a result, the infrared receiving element provided opposite the rear side of the protuberance has a wider infrared receiving angle range (directivity) when it is brought closer to the rear side of the protuberance, and a narrower infrared receiving angle range (directivity) when it is moved away from the rear side of the protuberance.

[0016] Therefore, according to the present invention, the infrared receiving angle range (directivity) of the infrared receiving element can be set to a desired range, and good infrared signal receiving conditions desired by the device can be easily achieved.

[0017] In this case, the exterior wall panel is further characterized in that the infrared ray transmitting member is white, the infrared ray transmitting member is transparent, and at least the raised portion of the infrared ray transmitting member is coated with a white ray paint that transmits infrared rays. Note that the paint in the present invention includes ink.

[0018] For example, by forming the infrared-transmitting member from a black-based synthetic resin material that is black-transparent, sufficient transmittance of infrared signals can be obtained. However, if the color of the outer wall panel of the casing of the device is white-based, providing a black-based infrared-transmitting member will cause the infrared receiving section to stand out too much in appearance, which will detract from the appearance of the device.

[0019] On the other hand, when providing a white infrared-transmitting member to match the color of a white exterior wall panel, it is possible to form the infrared-transmitting member from, for example, a white opaque synthetic resin material. This makes it easy to obtain a beautiful appearance of the equipment without the back side of the infrared-transmitting member being visible, but on the other hand, it has the disadvantage of significantly reducing the infrared transmittance.

[0020] Therefore, in the present invention, the infrared-transmitting member is made colorless and transparent, and a white-based paint is applied to at least the raised portion. By using a white-based paint, the transmittance of infrared rays can be adjusted by the thickness of the paint applied, and the transparency when viewed from the outside can also be adjusted. In other words, by applying a white-based paint to make the raised portion white, it is possible to easily obtain a raised portion that transmits infrared rays sufficiently and does not show through to the back side.

[0021] Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily form an infrared-transparent component that has high transmittance to infrared signals compared to when an opaque white synthetic resin material is used, and moreover, it is possible to make the infrared receiving portion inconspicuous to the same extent as when an opaque white synthetic resin material is used. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0022] [Figure 1] FIG. [Diagram 2] FIG. 3 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing the structure of an infrared receiving unit. [Diagram 3] FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the shape of an infrared transparent member. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As an embodiment of the infrared receiving section of the present invention, an infrared receiving section 2 provided in a warm air heater 1 shown in FIG.

[0024] As shown in Figure 1, warm air heater 1 corresponds to the equipment of the present invention, and inside the highly aesthetic casing 3, although not shown, there are housed an air heating device that generates warm air for heating, an air purifying device that corrects and circulates the indoor air, and a control device that controls the air heating device and air purifying device.

[0025] The infrared receiving unit 2 of this embodiment is provided on the upper front side of the white exterior wall panel 3a that constitutes the casing 3. The infrared receiving unit 2 is provided to receive infrared signals transmitted from a remote control (not shown).

[0026] 2, the infrared receiving unit 2 includes an infrared transparent member 4 and an infrared receiving element 5. The infrared transparent member 4 is fixed to the exterior wall panel 3a of the casing 3, and the infrared receiving element 5 is located inside the exterior wall panel 3a of the casing 3 and faces the infrared transparent member 4.

[0027] The infrared transparent member 4 is made of a thin synthetic resin film, and as shown in Fig. 3, includes a flat base 6 and a raised portion 7 that rises from a part of the base 6. The raised portion 7 protrudes from the front side, and a recess is formed on the back side. The base 6 of the infrared transparent member 4 is flat and therefore relatively flexible, but the raised portion 7 is less flexible than the base 6 and can reliably maintain its shape.

[0028] In this embodiment, the thickness of the synthetic resin film of the infrared transparent member 4 is set to about 0.18 mm.

[0029] As shown in Fig. 2, a through hole 8 is formed in the exterior wall panel 3a of the casing 3. The raised portion 7 of the infrared transparent member 4 is inserted into the through hole 8 from the back side of the exterior wall panel 3a. The base portion 6 of the infrared transparent member 4 is adhered to the back side of the exterior wall panel 3a via an adhesion means 9 such as double-sided adhesive tape. Note that as the adhesion means in the present invention, an adhesive may be used other than the double-sided adhesive tape, or the fixing may be performed by welding.

[0030] Since the base 6 is adhered to the back surface of the exterior wall panel 3a, it is not exposed to the outside of the exterior wall panel 3a and is not visible, so that the adhered part is not visible as in the conventional case, and deterioration of the appearance can be prevented.

[0031] Furthermore, as described above, since the base 6 is relatively flexible, the base 6 can be tightly attached to the rear surface of the exterior wall panel 3a even if the rear surface of the exterior wall panel 3a is curved. Therefore, the base 6 can be firmly attached to the rear surface of the exterior wall panel 3a, and high durability can be obtained.

[0032] The infrared transmitting member 4 also has a white appearance due to being made of a transparent synthetic resin film coated with white paint.

[0033] The outer wall panel 3a of the casing 3 in which the infrared receiving unit 2 of this embodiment is provided is formed from white hard synthetic resin (thickness dimension: approximately 2.5 mm). Since the infrared transparent member 4 is also white, as shown in FIG. 1, the infrared receiving unit 2 can be provided without being noticeable, and the appearance of the warm air heater 1 can be prevented from being impaired.

[0034] When the exterior wall panel 3a is white (specifically, examples include white, off-white, gray, beige, etc.), the infrared-transmitting member 4 can be made of a transparent synthetic resin film with a white paint applied to it to match the color of the exterior wall panel 3a, thereby creating a good appearance.

[0035] In this embodiment, a white paint (white ink) is applied (printed) onto the entire back surface of the infrared transmitting member 4 by silk screen printing to give the infrared transmitting member 4 a white appearance.

[0036] However, the white paint applied to the infrared transparent member 4 must be a paint (ink) that transmits infrared rays, and the thickness of the paint applied is set so that infrared rays can be sufficiently transmitted. In the infrared transparent member 4 of this embodiment, the thickness of the paint (ink) applied is set so that the transmittance of infrared rays with a wavelength of 940 nm is 17% or more. This allows the infrared receiving element 5 to reliably receive infrared signals from the remote control through the infrared transparent member 4.

[0037] In this way, by providing a white infrared-transmitting member 4 on a white exterior wall panel 3a, the infrared-transmitting member 4 can be made inconspicuous. In addition, since the infrared-transmitting member 4 is made white by applying white paint to it, it is easy to make it transmit infrared rays by adjusting the thickness of the applied white paint, etc. In other words, even if the infrared-transmitting member 4 is formed in a white color, which is generally considered to be a color that does not easily transmit infrared rays, it is easy to obtain infrared transmission by applying white paint (ink) as described above.

[0038] In this embodiment, an example has been shown in which a white paint is applied to the entire back surface of the infrared transparent member 4, but a white paint may be applied only to the back surface of the raised portion 7 of the infrared transparent member 4. The infrared transparent member 4 of this embodiment is easily manufactured by forming the raised portion 7 after white printing is performed on a flat transparent synthetic resin film.

[0039] As shown in FIG. 2, the infrared receiving element 5 is provided opposite to the rear side of the raised portion 7 of the infrared transmitting member 4, and is electrically connected to a control device (not shown).

[0040] Since the infrared transparent member 4 is made of a synthetic resin film, a concave space is formed on the back side of the raised portion 7. The outer periphery of the raised portion 7 is covered by the inner periphery of the through hole 8, so that the infrared signal enters from the top of the raised portion 7.

[0041] The infrared receiving element 5 facing the rear surface of the protuberance 7 has a wider infrared receiving angle range W (directivity) when it is brought closer to the rear surface of the protuberance 7, and has a narrower infrared receiving angle range W (directivity) when it is moved away from the rear surface of the protuberance.

[0042] This makes it possible to set the infrared receiving angle range W (directivity) of the infrared receiving element 5 to a desired range, and easily achieve good infrared signal receiving conditions.

[0043] In this embodiment, the warm air heater 1 has been described as an example, but the device to which the infrared receiver of the present invention can be provided is not limited to this. The structure of the infrared receiver of the present invention can be suitably adopted in any device that needs to receive infrared signals from a remote control (e.g., air conditioner, audio, television receiver, etc.). In this case, the present invention can be particularly suitably applied to devices with a white casing. [Explanation of symbols]

[0044] Reference Signs List 1...warm air heater (equipment), 2...infrared receiving unit, 3...casing, 3a...exterior wall panel, 4...infrared transmitting member, 5...infrared receiving element, 6...base, 7...raised portion, 8...through hole, 9...adhesive means.

Claims

1. A structure of an infrared receiving unit provided in a device that is operated by an infrared signal transmitted from a remote control and that receives the infrared signal transmitted from the remote control, comprising: The infrared receiving unit includes a through hole formed through a part of an exterior wall panel constituting a casing of the device, and an infrared transmitting member inserted into the through hole, the infrared transmitting member is formed of a synthetic resin film and has a flat base and a protruding portion protruding from the base in a shape corresponding to the through hole; The raised portion is inserted into the through hole from the back surface side of the outer wall panel of the casing, 4. An infrared receiving structure for an equipment, wherein the base is adhered to the rear surface of the outer wall panel of the casing via an adhesive means.

2. 2. The infrared receiving structure according to claim 1, An infrared receiving element is provided inside the casing facing the rear side of the raised portion of the infrared transmitting member.

3. 3. The infrared receiving structure according to claim 2, The exterior wall panel is white in color, The infrared transmitting member is transparent, 4. An infrared receiving structure for an apparatus, comprising: a first insulating layer formed on the first surface of the first insulating member; a second insulating layer formed on the first surface of the first insulating member;

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