Visual guidance material and installation structure therefor

Abstract

To provide a visual guidance material capable of being manufactured at low cost and having excellent explicitness of explicitly showing the alignment of a road.SOLUTION: A visual guidance material 1 is configured such that a belt-like substrate 2 has projections 3 formed locally so as to project onto a surface on a side where a vehicle travels, the projections extending in a width direction of the belt-like substrate 2; the projections 3 are formed at a predetermined pitch in a longitudinal direction of the belt-like substrate 2; the regions between the projections 3, 3 form non-convex / concave regions 4 with no inward or outward protruding concaves or convexes; a retroreflective material 6 that reflects irradiation light from headlights of the vehicle is provided on the surface of the projections 3; and there is no retroreflective material 6 on the surface of the non-concave / convex regions 4 arranged on the side where the vehicle travels.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a visual guide that indicates the alignment of a road to a driver of a vehicle traveling on the road, and to an installation structure for the same. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, visual guidance materials have been used to show the alignment of roads to drivers of vehicles traveling on roads, and visual guidance materials that use light-reflective sheets are also known, as in Patent Document 1. The visual guidance material in Patent Document 1 has a laminate structure in which a light-reflective sheet is laminated on the surface side of an elastic polymer sheet having the properties of rubber or elastomer, and is made of a corrugated flat mixed laminate sheet with continuous units in which flat sections are arranged between wave sections that are W-shaped in cross section.

[0003] The light-reflective sheeting in the gaze guidance material of Patent Document 1 uses a retroreflective sheeting that reflects light when irradiated by a light source such as a vehicle headlight, such as a sheet using glass beads, a sheet containing a microprism layer, or a sheet combining these with a metal vapor deposition layer, and the retroreflective sheeting is laminated over the entire surface of the front side of an elastic polymer sheet. The gaze guidance material having such a laminated structure is attached to objects such as guardrails, walls of roadsides and underground parking lots, and the side walls of tunnels. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-282425 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, the more retroreflective materials, such as sheets using glass beads, sheets containing microprism layers, or sheets combining these with a metal vapor deposition layer, the more expensive they become. Furthermore, when expensive retroreflective material is laminated over the entire surface of a sheet with continuous units of flat sections between wavy sections in a W-shape in cross section, as in the case of the visual guidance material in Patent Document 1, the amount of retroreflective material used becomes very large, resulting in the problem of high manufacturing costs for the visual guidance material.

[0006] Furthermore, when a vehicle travels on a relatively long, straight road, such as a road tunnel, if the visual guidance material of Patent Document 1 is installed on the side wall of the road tunnel, the reflective surface of the retroreflective material in the W-shaped wave section in cross section will cause a lot of diffused light, resulting in a continuous appearance of non-uniform reflected light, which creates the problem of poor visibility of the road line.

[0007] The present invention has been proposed in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a visual guidance material and its installation structure that can be manufactured at low cost and has excellent visibility in clearly indicating the alignment of a road. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The visual guidance material of the present invention is characterized in that protrusions extending in the width direction of the strip substrate are formed locally on the strip substrate so as to protrude onto the surface on the vehicle traveling side, the protrusions are formed at a predetermined pitch in the longitudinal direction of the strip substrate, the areas between the protrusions are non-convex and concave areas with no concaves or convexes protruding inward or outward, a retroreflective material is provided on the surface of the protrusions that reflects light emitted by the vehicle headlights, and no retroreflective material is provided on the surface of the non-convex and concave areas arranged on the vehicle traveling side. This method significantly reduces the amount of retroreflective material used by providing retroreflective material on the surface of the ridges locally formed on the strip substrate, while not providing retroreflective material on the surface of the non-convex / concave region located on the vehicle's traveling side. This allows for the use of expensive retroreflective material with excellent retroreflective performance, and allows for cost-effective manufacturing. Furthermore, by providing retroreflective material on the surface of the ridges locally protruding from the strip substrate, rather than providing retroreflective material on the surface of the non-concave region, it is possible to eliminate the phenomenon of diffused light caused by the reflective surface of the retroreflective material in, for example, a W-shaped wave portion in cross section, and to produce a more uniform, continuous reflected light. Furthermore, by making the areas between the ridges non-concave, without any protruding inward or outward convex / concave regions, it is possible to eliminate the diffuse reflection of light caused by the convex / concave regions. Therefore, the uniform and clear retroreflective light that appears at a predetermined pitch significantly enhances the visibility of the visual guidance material that clearly indicates the road's alignment.

[0009] The visual guidance material of the present invention is characterized in that the retroreflective material provided on the surface of the protrusion is provided only on the surface of the protrusion that is irradiated with light from the vehicle headlights. By applying the retroreflective material only to the surface of the protrusions onto which the light from the vehicle's headlights is irradiated, the amount of retroreflective material used can be kept to a minimum, further reducing the manufacturing costs of the visual guidance material.

[0010] The installation structure of the visual guidance material of the present invention is characterized in that the visual guidance materials of the present invention are arranged in rows at intervals in the direction in which the road extends, and the protrusions are arranged so that the spacing between them is approximately the same throughout the entire row of multiple visual guidance materials. This prevents the fire from spreading along the visual guidance material in the unlikely event of a fire. In addition, the pitch of the retroreflected light from all of the visual guidance materials installed in a row can be made approximately the same, which makes the overall quality of the retroreflected light uniform and further improves the clarity of the road alignment. [Effects of the Invention]

[0011] According to the present invention, it is possible to manufacture the visual guidance material at low cost and to significantly improve the visibility of the visual guidance material that clearly indicates the alignment of the road. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] (a) is an oblique view showing an embodiment of a visual guidance material according to the present invention, and (b) is a front view of the visual guidance material of (a) with the mounting bolt and mounting nut of an expansion anchor placed on it. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example in which the visual guidance material of the embodiment is installed on the side wall of a tunnel. [Figure 3] (a) is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the tunnel side wall in Figure 2 cut above the visual guidance material, and (b) is a cross-sectional view of a portion of the tunnel side wall in Figure 2 cut at the location where the mounting bolts of the visual guidance material are installed. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a modified example of a visual guidance member according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013] [Embodiment of the visual guidance material] 1 to 3, a visual guidance material 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention has a strip-shaped substrate 2 that is rectangular in front view and is generally flat. The strip-shaped substrate 2 is formed, for example, with a length of 1000 mm in the horizontal direction in FIG. 1, a width of 100 mm in the vertical direction in FIG. 1, and a thickness of 1 mm. The strip-shaped substrate 2 can be formed from any suitable material that has the durability and other characteristics required of the substrate of the visual guidance material 1, but is preferably formed from a non-combustible material such as non-combustible plastic, for example, polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

[0014] The band plate substrate 2 is locally formed with ridges 3 extending in the width direction of the band plate 2 so as to protrude onto the surface facing the road on which vehicles travel, and the ridges 3 are formed at a predetermined pitch in the longitudinal direction of the band plate substrate 2. In the illustrated example, individual ridges 3 are formed at six locations at approximately equal intervals or at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the band plate substrate 2. Furthermore, in this example, the ridges 3 are integrally molded with the band plate substrate 2 so that, when installed, the upper and lower surfaces are closed with material, and a recessed shape is formed on the back side that protrudes toward the front. When the ridges 3 are integrally molded in this way, with the upper and lower surfaces closed with material, they have excellent shape retention even if the material thickness of the band plate substrate 2 and the ridges 3 is thin.

[0015] The areas of the strip-shaped substrate 2 between the ridges 3 and the areas outside the ridges 3 located at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the strip-shaped substrate 2 are non-relief areas 4 that do not have any recesses or projections protruding inward or outward. In the illustrated example, mounting holes 5 through which mounting fixtures are inserted are formed at both ends and the center in the longitudinal direction of the strip-shaped substrate 2, and the mounting holes 5 are provided in the non-relief areas 4 outside the ridges 3 located at both ends and in the non-relief area 4 between the ridges 3 located in the center.

[0016] The non-convex and concave regions 4 between the individual protrusions 3 in the visual guidance material 1 have a length in the longitudinal direction of the strip substrate 2 of 100 mm to 200 mm, or a length in the longitudinal direction of the strip substrate 2 that is 4 to 10 times the width of the protrusions 3 in the longitudinal direction of the strip substrate 2, or a configuration that satisfies both of these conditions is preferable from the standpoints of improving the uniformity of the retroreflected light and reducing glare caused by excessive reflected light.

[0017] The surfaces of the ridges 3 arranged on the vehicle traveling side of the road are provided with retroreflective material 6 that reflects light emitted by vehicle headlights. In this embodiment, the retroreflective material 6 is provided only on the facing surface 31 of the ridges 3 that faces the vehicle traveling direction VD and is irradiated with light from vehicle headlights, and the retroreflective material 6 is provided so as to cover almost the entire facing surface 31. Furthermore, the non-facing surface 32 of the ridges 3 that does not face the vehicle traveling direction VD is not provided with retroreflective material 6, and the surface 41 of the non-concave and convex region 4 arranged on the vehicle traveling side is also not provided with retroreflective material 6.

[0018] The retroreflective material 6 can be any suitable retroreflective material such as a sheet using glass beads, a sheet containing a microprism layer, or a sheet combining these with a metal vapor deposition layer. For example, it is preferable to use a wide-angle prism-type reflective sheet as the retroreflective material 6 and attach it to the opposing surface 31 of the protrusion 3.

[0019] The visual guidance materials 1 of this embodiment are attached to objects around the road and are installed so as to be lined up at intervals in the direction in which the road extends, for example, a side wall 102 arranged around a road 101 of a tunnel 100 in Fig. 3 is used as the object, and a plurality of visual guidance materials 1 are attached to the side wall 102 and lined up at intervals 103 in the direction in which the road 101 extends. In Fig. 2, 104 is an illumination lamp.

[0020] When multiple visual delineators 1 are arranged in a row at intervals in the direction of the road, it is preferable to arrange them so that the pitch between the protrusions 3 located at one end of one visual delineator 1 and the protrusions 3 located at the other end of another visual delineator 1 arranged next to the first visual delineator 1 is approximately the same as the pitch between the protrusions 3-3 on one visual delineator 1, in other words, to arrange the protrusions 3-3 so that the spacing between the protrusions is approximately the same across the entire row of multiple visual delineators 1. With this structure, the pitch of the retroreflected light is approximately the same across the entire row of multiple visual delineators 1, making it possible to homogenize the overall retroreflected light and further improve the clarity of the road alignment; for example, when a vehicle is traveling at high speed, a nearly continuous line of reflected light is visible, and when traveling at low speed or in a traffic jam, homogenous dotted reflected light is visible.

[0021] When installing the visual guidance material 1 on the side wall 102, as shown in Fig. 3, for example, an expansion anchor 10 having a mounting bolt 11 and a mounting nut 12 is used as a mounting fixture, and drill holes 105 for installing the expansion anchor 10 are formed in the side wall 102. The installation surface 106 of the side wall 102 is then prepared and, if necessary, a primer is applied. The strip-shaped substrate 2 is then positioned so that the opposing surface 31 on which the retroreflective material 6 of the protrusions 3 is provided faces the vehicle travel direction VD. The positions of the mounting holes 5 of the strip-shaped substrate 2 are aligned with the drill holes 105, and the back surface of the strip-shaped substrate 2 on which the protrusions 3 do not protrude is adhesively bonded to the installation surface 106 of the side wall 102. Alternatively, a double-sided adhesive sheet may be attached to the back surface of the strip-shaped substrate 2 in advance, and the release paper or release film may be peeled off on-site to allow the strip-shaped substrate 2 to be attached to the installation surface 106.

[0022] Furthermore, expansion anchors 10 are inserted into the corresponding drilled holes 105 via each of the mounting holes 5 in the strip-shaped base plate 2, the inserted expansion anchors 10 are expanded so that they bite into the wall surfaces of the drilled holes 105, and the mounting nuts 12 are tightened onto the mounting bolts 11 at locations corresponding to each mounting hole 5 so as to press the strip-shaped base plate 2 against the installation surface 106 of the side wall 102, thereby installing the visual guidance material 1 on the side wall 102. This installation work of the visual guidance material 1 is repeated until a plurality of visual guidance materials 1 are installed in a row at intervals 103 in the direction in which the road 101 extends.

[0023] According to the visual guidance element 1 of this embodiment, retroreflective material 6 is provided on the surface of the ridges 3 formed locally on the strip substrate 2, while retroreflective material 6 is not provided on the surface of the non-convex / concave region 4 located on the vehicle travel side. This significantly reduces the amount of retroreflective material 6 used, allowing for the use of expensive retroreflective materials with excellent retroreflective performance and low manufacturing costs. Furthermore, by providing retroreflective material 6 only on the surface of the ridges 3 that protrude locally from the strip substrate 2, rather than on the surface of the non-concave region 4, it is possible to eliminate the phenomenon of diffused light caused by the reflective surface of the retroreflective material in a W-shaped wave portion in cross section, for example, and to produce a more uniform, continuous reflected light. Furthermore, by forming the regions between the ridges 3 into non-concave regions 4 without any protruding inward or outward convex / concave portions, it is possible to eliminate the diffuse reflection of light caused by the convex / concave portions. Therefore, the uniform and clear retroreflective light that appears at a predetermined pitch significantly enhances the visibility of the visual guidance element 1, which clearly indicates the road alignment. Furthermore, since there are non-convex and concave areas 4 between the ridges 3, 3 on the band plate substrate 2, it can be properly installed on the sidewall of a curved road as shown in FIG.

[0024] Furthermore, by providing the retroreflective material 6 on the surface of the protrusion 3 only on the surface of the protrusion 3 that is irradiated with light from the vehicle headlights, the amount of retroreflective material 6 used can be kept to a minimum, further reducing the manufacturing cost of the visual guidance material 1.

[0025] Furthermore, in the installation structure for installing the visual guidance materials 1, by installing a plurality of visual guidance materials 1 in a row at intervals in the direction in which the road 101 extends, it is possible to prevent the fire from spreading along the visual guidance materials 1 even in the event of a fire occurring.

[0026] [Scope of the invention disclosed herein] The inventions disclosed in this specification include, in addition to the individual inventions and embodiments listed as inventions, those specified by changing partial contents of these to other contents disclosed in this specification, those specified by adding other contents disclosed in this specification to these contents, or those specified by deleting partial contents of these to the extent that partial effects are obtained and creating a generic concept.The inventions disclosed in this specification also include the following contents and modifications.

[0027] For example, in the above embodiment of the visual delineator 1, retroreflective material 6 is provided only on the facing surface 31 of protrusion 3, and retroreflective material 6 is not provided on the non-facing surface 32 of protrusion 3. However, a configuration in which retroreflective material 6 is provided on both the facing surface 31 and the non-facing surface 32 of protrusion 3 is also included in the visual delineator of the present invention. Furthermore, in the above embodiment of the visual delineator 1, the upper and lower surfaces are covered with material when installed, and a recessed shape is formed on the back side that protrudes toward the front, so that the strip-shaped substrate 2 and the protrusion 3 are integrally molded. However, the strip-shaped substrate 2 may be bent into an L shape, so that the protrusion 3 protrudes in a V shape, and the back side of the protrusion 3 may be molded to form a V-shaped groove. Furthermore, although the protrusion 3 is configured to protrude in a V shape in a plan view, the shape of the protrusion of the visual delineator may be any appropriate shape within the spirit of the present invention, and may, for example, protrude in a U shape in a plan view.

[0028] Furthermore, the elongated, rectangular strip-shaped substrate 2 in the visual guidance material 1 of the above embodiment is formed to be approximately flat overall, but the shape of the strip-shaped substrate may be any appropriate shape within the scope of the spirit of the present invention. [Industrial Applicability]

[0029] The present invention can be used as a visual guide that shows the alignment of a road to a driver of a vehicle traveling on the road. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] 1...Visual guidance material 2...Strip base plate 3...Protrusion 31...Facing surface 32...Non-facing surface 4...Non-convex / concave area 41...Surface 5...Mounting hole 6...Retroreflective material 10...Expansion anchor 11...Mounting bolt 12...Mounting nut 100...Tunnel 101...Road 102...Side wall 103...Spacing 104...Lighting fixture 105...Drilling hole 106...Installation surface VD...Vehicle travel direction

Claims

1. a protrusion extending in a width direction of the belt-shaped substrate is locally formed on the belt-shaped substrate so as to protrude toward the vehicle traveling side surface; The protrusions are formed at a predetermined pitch in the longitudinal direction of the band plate substrate, The areas between the ridges are non-convex and concave areas with no concaves or convexes protruding inward or outward, A visual guidance material characterized in that a retroreflective material that reflects light emitted from vehicle headlights is provided on the surface of the protrusion, and no retroreflective material is provided on the surface of the non-convex and concave area that is located on the vehicle driving side.

2. 2. The visual guidance material according to claim 1, wherein the retroreflective material provided on the surface of the ridge is provided only on the surface of the ridge that is irradiated with light from a vehicle headlight.

3. The visual guidance materials according to claim 1 or 2 are arranged in a row at intervals in the direction of the road, A visual guidance material installation structure characterized in that the protrusions of the visual guidance materials arranged in a row are arranged so that the mutual spacing between them is approximately the same throughout the entirety of the plurality of visual guidance materials.

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