Speaker device for vehicle

Abstract

To provide a speaker device for vehicle that has improved design and acoustic performance.SOLUTION: A speaker device for vehicle includes: a speaker unit including a sound output part; a light guide body which is arranged around the sound output part; and a speaker grille which is arranged on the cabin interior side relative to the speaker unit and the light guide body. At least a part of the speaker grille has light transmissivity, and when the light guide body emits light, an annular light emission part is formed on the cabin interior side of the speaker grille.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a speaker device for a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] In vehicle acoustic systems, as passenger cabin environments become more sophisticated, there is a growing demand for speaker devices mounted in vehicles to achieve high design quality and acoustic performance.

[0003] Regarding speakers in vehicle sound systems, a structure is known in which vehicle speakers are arranged in vehicle interior materials, for example, door trim attached to the inside of the vehicle door (Patent Document 1). As a speaker design that uses light, a vehicle speaker grill is known in which the speaker grill of the speaker device is made of a translucent material to transmit light from an illuminant inside the speaker grill (Patent Document 2). As an illuminant, a ring-shaped illuminant is known that combines a light guide made of a light-transmitting material with an LED or the like (Patent Document 3). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2017-019312 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-096691 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-179379 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In order to achieve both aesthetic appeal and acoustic performance in such a vehicle speaker device equipped with an illuminating speaker grille, it is necessary to properly determine the positional relationship between the illuminant, speaker grille, and speaker sound output section in addition to the shape and illumination pattern of the illuminant.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle speaker device having high design quality and acoustic performance. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The vehicle speaker device of the present invention comprises a speaker unit including a sound output portion, a light guide arranged around the sound output portion, and a speaker grill arranged on the interior side of the vehicle compartment relative to the speaker unit and the light guide, wherein at least a portion of the speaker grill is optically transparent, and when the light guide emits light, a ring-shaped light-emitting portion is generated on the interior side of the speaker grill.

[0008] This configuration makes it possible to realize lighting with a high level of design in a vehicle speaker.

[0009] In the present invention, the speaker grill may have a light-transmitting portion that is light-transmitting to light emitted from the light guide, and a light-shielding portion that is not light-transmitting.

[0010] According to this configuration, by arranging the light-transmitting portions and light-blocking portions of the speaker grill in a desired combination, it is possible to determine the shape of light emitted from the light guide through the speaker grill.

[0011] In the present invention, the light guide may have an annular portion having an outer diameter surface, an inner diameter surface, an inner surface inside the vehicle cabin, and an outer surface outside the vehicle cabin, and the annular portion may further have an inclined surface inclined with respect to the axial direction of the annular portion, the inner surface and the inner diameter surface being connected via the inclined surface, and the radial cross section of the annular portion may be a pentagon having three approximately right angles.

[0012] This configuration reduces the effect of undesired refraction of light due to the angles between the surfaces of the light guide, thereby improving the design of the light-emitting pattern of the light guide observed from inside the vehicle cabin.

[0013] In the present invention, the speaker grille may have a truncated conical cylindrical portion whose diameter increases toward the inside of the vehicle cabin, the truncated conical cylindrical portion may be arranged concentrically with the annular shaped portion of the light guide, and the inclination angles of the inner and outer peripheral surfaces of the truncated conical cylindrical portion may be approximately equal to the inclination angles of the inclined surfaces of the light guide.

[0014] With this configuration, even when the light emitting pattern of the light guide is observed through the speaker grill, the annular light emitting portion can be provided without impairing the design.

[0015] In the present invention, the shortest distance from the outline of the sound output section to the outline of the outer edge of the speaker grille in a plan view from the front of the sound output section may be 9.5 mm or more.

[0016] With this configuration, good acoustic performance can be obtained, and the ring-shaped light emitting part can be provided around the sound output part of the speaker unit while maintaining the strength of the speaker grill. [Effects of the Invention]

[0017] According to the vehicle speaker device of the present invention, when viewed from inside the vehicle cabin, a ring-shaped light-emitting portion is provided around the sound output portion of the speaker unit, and the adverse effect on the light-emitting pattern caused by the shape of the light guide is reduced, thereby improving the design. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a vehicle speaker device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a light guide of the vehicle speaker device. [Figure 3] 2 is a front view of a light guide of the vehicle speaker device. FIG. [Figure 4] 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of annular light emission of a light guide of the vehicle speaker device. FIG. [Figure 5] 3 is a cross-sectional view of the light guide of the vehicle speaker device in a radial direction. FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a front view of the speaker grill of the vehicle speaker device. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a speaker grill of the vehicle speaker device. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the vehicle speaker device. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a front view of the speaker grill of the vehicle speaker device. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a front view of a door trim to which the vehicle speaker device is attached. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0019] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. A vehicle speaker device 1 of the present invention is attached to a door trim 100, which is an interior member attached to the interior side of a vehicle door, as shown in Fig. 10, and emits sound toward the interior side of the vehicle. Fig. 1 shows a vertical cross-sectional view of the vehicle speaker device 1. The vehicle speaker device 1 includes a speaker unit 2, a light guide 3, and a speaker grill 4. The left side of the vehicle speaker device 1, which faces the interior side of the vehicle, is protected by a porous or mesh-like plate-like member 5 (for example, punched metal) and a skin material 6 that covers the surface of the plate-like member 5.

[0020] <Speaker unit> The speaker unit 2 has a midrange 21 and a diaphragm 20, and outputs sound waves by the midrange 21 vibrating the diaphragm 20. The diaphragm 20 functions as a sound output section. Preferably, the sound output section 20 is substantially circular, or the outline of the sound output section 20 is substantially circular when viewed from a plane in the direction in which the sound waves are output. The speaker unit 2 is provided with a seal 8 around the sound output section 20 to prevent sound leakage. The seal 8 is made of a material such as sponge.

[0021] <Light guide> 2 and 3 are a perspective view and a front view, respectively, of the light guide 3. The light guide 3 is composed of a rod-shaped portion 31 and an annular portion 32. Light is introduced into the light guide 3 from a light source (not shown), such as an LED, connected to the tip 30 of the rod-shaped portion 31.

[0022] The light guide 3 is produced by processing a light-transmitting material into a desired shape by molding, etc. Specific materials that can be used include resin materials such as polycarbonate, acrylic resin, and urethane resin, or inorganic materials such as glass.

[0023] 3, the light guide 3 is arranged such that the annular portion 32 of the light guide 3 surrounds the sound output portion 20 of the speaker unit 2 in a plan view in the axial direction of the sound output portion 20. In this arrangement, the light guide 3 has an inner surface 33 that faces the interior of the vehicle cabin and an outer surface 34 that faces the exterior of the vehicle cabin, as shown in FIG.

[0024] Light introduced into the light guide 3 propagates through the inside of the light guide 3 by total internal reflection. Predetermined locations of the light guide 3 are processed or treated, and the light propagating through the inside of the light guide 3 is reflected at these locations and emitted to the outside of the light guide 3, causing the light guide 3 to emit light.

[0025] FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of light emission from the light guide 3. When recessed grooves 39 are formed in the outer surface 34 ( FIG. 2 ) of the annular portion 32 of the light guide 3 and extend in the radial direction of the annular portion 32, light propagating inside the light guide 3 is reflected by the grooves 39 and emitted to the outside of the light guide 3. As a result, when viewed from the direction of the inner surface 33 ( FIG. 2 ) of the light guide 3, i.e., from inside the vehicle cabin, an emission pattern is generated in which the grooves 39 emit light. By forming a plurality of such grooves 39 in a row at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction on the outer surface 34 of the annular portion 32 of the light guide 3, an emission pattern is generated in which the grooves 39 are lined up when viewed from inside the vehicle cabin, and an annular emission is observed as a whole.

[0026] The shape of the portion of the light guide 3 where light is emitted is not limited to the linear recessed grooves 39 (FIG. 4) as described above, but may be any shape having projections and recesses for reflecting light propagating inside the light guide. Since the light emission pattern is determined by these shapes, the projections and recesses formed on the light guide 3 can be selected according to the design required for the light emission, such as fine dot processing or grain processing.

[0027] 5 shows a radial cross section of the annular portion 32 of the light guide 3. The annular portion 32 of the light guide 3 of this embodiment has an inclined surface 37 for improving the design of the light emission pattern of the light guide 3.

[0028] When the annular portion 32 of the light guide 3 is in the shape of a block having an inner surface 33 and an outer surface 34, and the radial cross section of the annular portion 32 is rectangular, the inner surface 33 and the inner diameter surface 35 may intersect at right angles to form a right-angled corner 38. Unlike this, the annular portion 32 of the light guide rod 3 of this embodiment has, in addition to the inner surface 33, the outer surface 34, the annular inner diameter surface 35, and the outer diameter surface 36, an inclined surface 37 connecting the two surfaces around the entire circumference between the inner surface 33 and the inner diameter surface 35. The inner surface 33 and the inner diameter surface 35 are connected via the inclined surface 37, and the radial cross section of the annular portion 32 is a pentagon with three approximately right angles.

[0029] The inclined surface 37 has a constant inclination angle α ( FIG. 8 ) with respect to the axial direction of the annular shaped portion 32, i.e., the central axis Ax of the annular shaped portion 32. The inclination angle α is preferably 30° to 60°. The inclined surface 37 can also be expressed as a side surface of a truncated cone whose diameter increases toward the inner surface 33.

[0030] The annular portion 32 of the light guide 3 has an inclined surface 37, which improves the design of the annular light emission that can be observed from inside the vehicle cabin. When the vehicle speaker device is mounted in a vehicle interior member, taking into consideration the posture and eye height of the occupants, the occupants will observe the light guide 3 that generates the annular light emission in the speaker device from a slightly oblique direction, rather than directly in front of the axial direction of the annular light emission. In this case, the light reflected by the outer surface 34 of the light guide 3 and emitted outside the light guide 3 is observed by the occupants via the inner surface 33 of the light guide 3 as well as the inner diameter surface 35 of the annular portion 32.

[0031] If the annular portion 32 of the light guide 3 does not have the inclined surface 37, as described above, a right-angle corner 38 is formed at the position where the inner surface 33 of the annular portion intersects with the inner diameter surface 35. In this case, when light emitted by reflection on the outer surface 34 of the light guide is observed from inside the vehicle cabin, undesired refraction occurs for light that has a path that passes through the corner 38 between the inner surface 33 and the inner diameter surface 35, and the light emission pattern may appear to differ from the shape processed on the outer surface 34 of the light guide 3. For example, if a groove 39, which is a recess that extends linearly in the radial direction of the annular portion 32, is formed on the outer surface 34 of the light guide, the light emission pattern corresponding to the linear groove 39 appears to be divided at the point corresponding to the corner 38.

[0032] In contrast, in the light guide 3 of this embodiment, the annular portion 32 has an inclined surface 37. Light reflected by the outer surface 34 of the light guide 3 and emitted from the light guide 3 is observed from inside the vehicle cabin through the inner surface 33, the inner diameter surface 35, or the inclined surface 37. During this observation, the inclined surface 37 is provided so as to face the line of sight of an occupant observing the annular light emitted from the light guide 3 from inside the vehicle cabin. Since there are no right-angle corners 38 between the inner surface 33 and the inner diameter surface 35, undesirable deformation of the light emission pattern due to refraction of light at the corners of the light guide 3 is unlikely to occur. Because the angles between the inner surface 33, the inclined surface 37, and the inner surface 35 are obtuse angles, the shape of the light emission pattern observed from inside the vehicle cabin is less likely to be disrupted, distorted, or otherwise deformed, compared to right angles. Thus, the inclined surface 37 on the annular portion 32 of the light guide 3 improves the design of the light emission pattern.

[0033] When the light guide 3 is assembled into the vehicle speaker device 1 of FIG. 1, it is held by a housing 7 having a shape that conforms to the shape of the light guide 3. The housing 7 is arranged so as to hold the outer surface and both side surfaces of the rod-shaped portion 31 of FIG. 2, and to hold the outer surface 34 and outer diameter surface 36 of the annular-shaped portion 32. This prevents the rod-shaped portion 31 of the light guide 3 and the annular-shaped portion 32 of the light guide 3, which surrounds the sound output portion 20 (FIG. 1), from coming into direct contact with the seal 8 (FIG. 1) of the speaker unit 2, thereby enabling the light emission pattern of the light guide 3 to be stably maintained in a desired shape. A clearance of 0.5 mm or more is preferably provided between the light guide 3 and the housing 7.

[0034] <Speaker grill> 6 shows a front view of the speaker grill 4. The speaker grill 4 is disposed on the interior side of the vehicle relative to the speaker unit 2 and the light guide 3. The speaker grill 4 has an opening 40 that allows sound emitted by the speaker unit 2 to pass into the vehicle interior. The opening 40 is disposed opposite the output portion 20 of the speaker unit 2 in FIG. 1, and is a hole that penetrates the speaker grill 4 from the interior side to the exterior side of the vehicle interior.

[0035] A mesh or porous plate-like member 5 (e.g., punched metal) and a skin material 6 are attached to the interior side of the speaker grille 4. The plate-like member 5 and the skin material 6 protect the sound output portion 20 of the speaker unit 2 and also improve the design.

[0036] Speaker grill 4 has light-transmitting portion 41 and light-shielding portion 42, which are not light-transmitting, as shown in FIG. 6. Speaker grill 4 in this embodiment is molded from a transparent resin, and light-shielding portion 42 is formed by applying a light-shielding paint to the surface, with the remaining portion being transparent portion 41. In another embodiment, speaker grill 4 may be integrally molded by two-color molding using a light-transmitting material and a light-opaque material, thereby forming light-transmitting portions and light-shielding portions corresponding to the portions molded from each material.

[0037] The light-transmitting portion 41 of the speaker grille 4 has a shape corresponding to the annular-shaped portion 32 of the light guide 3 that is arranged on the passenger compartment side of the speaker grille 4. This allows light emitted from the annular-shaped portion 32 of the light guide 3 to pass through the light-transmitting portion 41 into the passenger compartment, while the light-shielding portion 42 prevents light emitted from sources other than the annular-shaped portion 32 from leaking into the passenger compartment, allowing the annular light emission to be observed from inside the passenger compartment.

[0038] FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of the speaker grille 4. The speaker grille 4 has a truncated conical cylindrical portion 43, with an inner peripheral surface 43a facing the interior of the vehicle cabin and an outer peripheral surface 43b (FIG. 8) facing the exterior of the vehicle cabin. The truncated conical cylindrical portion 43 is a cylindrical body with the inside hollowed out so that the side surfaces of the truncated cone have a constant thickness, and the opening 40 forms the hollow portion of the truncated conical cylindrical portion. The diameter of the truncated conical cylindrical portion 43 increases toward the interior of the vehicle cabin.

[0039] 8 shows a cross-sectional view of the vehicle speaker device 1 including the light guide 3 and the speaker grill 4. The annular portion 32 of the light guide 3 and the truncated conical cylindrical portion 43 of the speaker grill 4 are concentrically arranged, and the inclination angle β1 of the inner peripheral surface 43a of the truncated conical cylindrical portion and the inclination angle β2 of the outer peripheral surface 43b of the truncated conical cylindrical portion with respect to the central axis Ax are substantially equal to the inclination angle α of the inclined surface 37 of the light guide 3, and preferably these inclination angles are 35° or more. This makes it easier to visually recognize the highly designed annular light emission when observed from multiple directions.

[0040] Since the inclination angle α of the inclined surface 37 of the light guide 3 is approximately the same as the inclination angle β1 of the inner surface 43a of the truncated conical tubular portion 43 of the speaker grill 4 and the inclination angle β2 of the outer surface 43b, the light emitted from the inclined surface 37 of the light guide is incident at an angle of 0° or approximately equal to 0° with respect to the inner surface 43a and outer surface 43b of the truncated conical tubular portion 43 of the speaker grill 4, resulting in a state of near-normal incidence and no undesirable refraction.As a result, the light emission pattern that constitutes the ring-shaped light observed from inside the vehicle cabin is not split or distorted.

[0041] As a result, even when the annular light emission of the light guide 3 is observed from inside the vehicle cabin through the translucent portion 41 of the speaker grill 4 (Figure 6), the design of the light emission pattern of the light guide 3, which is improved by providing the inclined surface 37 on the light guide 3, can be maintained.

[0042] Furthermore, the opening 40 through which the sound emitted from the sound output section 20 of the speaker unit 2 passes has a shape in which the diameter increases toward the inside of the vehicle cabin. This allows the sound output section 20 to emit sound that spreads throughout the vehicle cabin, improving acoustic performance.

[0043] 9 shows a front view of speaker grill 4. As described above, speaker grill 4 has light-transmitting portion 41 and light-blocking portion 42, which enable the annular light emission to be observed from inside the vehicle cabin. Furthermore, as will be explained below, the presence of light-transmitting portion 41 improves the strength of speaker grill 4 and the design of the entire speaker device.

[0044] If the speaker grill 4 did not have the light-transmitting portion 41, in order to be able to observe the annular light emitted by the light guide 3 from inside the vehicle cabin, the opening 40 of the speaker grill 4 would need to have a diameter larger than the outline 20E of the sound output portion 20 of the speaker unit 2 and larger than the outer diameter of the annular-shaped portion 3 of the light guide 3. On the other hand, if the distance from the opening 40 to the outer edge 4E of the speaker grill 4 is insufficient, there would be places where the thickness of the speaker grill is small, which could result in insufficient strength at those places.

[0045] Furthermore, if one were to increase the strength of the speaker grill 4 by increasing the thickness of the speaker grill 4 inside the opening 40 while maintaining the shape of the outer edge 4E of the speaker grill 4, when observed from inside the vehicle, the shape of the opening 40 would interfere with the annular portion 32 of the light guide 3, and the annular portion 32 of the light guide 3 would be partially covered by the speaker grill 4, which is a light-blocking body, making it impossible to achieve annular light emission.

[0046] Alternatively, if an attempt is made to increase the strength by increasing the thickness of the speaker grill 4 toward its outer edge while maintaining the circular shape of the opening 40 of the speaker grill 4 when viewed from inside the vehicle cabin, this would increase the external dimensions of the speaker grill 4, restricting the design in terms of the balance of the position and size of the annular light emission in the area occupied by the speaker grill 4 when viewed from inside the vehicle cabin, and there is also the risk that the speaker device 4 will not comply with the dimensional requirements when attached to vehicle interior components such as door trim, which is therefore undesirable.

[0047] These problems are solved by providing the speaker grille 4 with a light-transmitting portion 41 that transmits light. Because the light-transmitting portion 41 transmits light emitted from the light guide 3 (FIG. 6), an annular light emission with a high design quality can be achieved even if the diameter of the opening 40 is smaller than the diameter of the annular portion 32 of the light guide 3. Furthermore, the relatively small diameter of the opening 40 ensures a sufficient distance from the opening 40 to the outer periphery outline 4E of the speaker grille 4, thereby improving the strength and design of the speaker grille 4. In this case, the shortest distance L between the outer periphery outline 4E of the speaker grille 4 and the outer periphery outline 20E of the sound output portion 20 located radially inside the opening 40 in a plan view from the front of the sound output portion 20 is preferably 9.5 mm or more. In this case, the axial width of the speaker grille 4, including the truncated conical portion 43, from the interior side to the exterior side of the vehicle is preferably 10 mm or more and 15 mm or less.

[0048] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the disclosed embodiments are illustrative in all respects and are not limiting. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims rather than the above description, and it is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0049] 1...Speaker device 2...Speaker unit 20…Sound part 21...Squawker 3...Light guide 30...Light entrance part 31...rod-shaped part 32...Annular shaped portion 33...Inner surface 34…Outer surface 35...Inner diameter surface 36…Outer diameter surface 37…Slanted surface 4...Speaker grill 40…Aperture 41...Transparent part 42...Light blocking part 43...Truncated cone cylindrical section 43a...inner surface of the truncated cone cylindrical portion 43b...Outer surface of the truncated cone cylindrical portion

Claims

1. a speaker unit including a sound output unit; a light guide disposed around the sound output section; a speaker grill disposed on the vehicle interior side relative to the speaker unit and the light guide, At least a portion of the speaker grill is optically transparent; When the light guide emits light, an annular light-emitting portion is generated on the interior side of the speaker grille. Vehicle speaker device.

2. The vehicle speaker device according to claim 1, The speaker grill has a light-transmitting portion that is light-transmitting to light emitted from the light guide, and a light-shielding portion that is not light-transmitting.

3. 3. The vehicle speaker device according to claim 1, The light guide is an annular portion having an outer diameter surface, an inner diameter surface, an inner surface on the interior side of the vehicle cabin, and an outer surface on the exterior side of the vehicle cabin; the annular shaped portion further has an inclined surface inclined with respect to the axial direction of the annular shaped portion, the inner side surface and the inner diameter surface are connected via the inclined surface, The radial cross section of the annular shaped portion is a pentagon having three approximately right angles. Vehicle speaker device.

4. The vehicle speaker device according to claim 3, the speaker grille has a truncated cone-shaped cylindrical portion whose diameter increases toward the inside of the vehicle compartment, the truncated conical cylindrical portion is disposed concentrically with the annular portion of the light guide; the inclination angles of the inner and outer peripheral surfaces of the truncated cone cylindrical portion and the inclination angle of the inclined surface of the light guide are substantially equal; Vehicle speaker device.

5. 3. The vehicle speaker device according to claim 1, A vehicle speaker device, wherein the shortest distance from an outline of the sound output section to an outline of an outer edge of the speaker grille in a plan view from the front of the sound output section is 9.5 mm or more.

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