Luminous Emblem

Abstract

To provide a light-emitting emblem capable of suppressing the breakage of an emblem when receiving impact in a thickness direction due to vehicle collision and the like.SOLUTION: A light-emitting emblem 1 is equipped with a light-emitting element 131 as a light source, a housing 14 that stores the light-emitting emblem 131 and has an opening portion 143, and a cover 10 on which an emblem is formed on a surface, and which includes a light-emitting portion 120 taking out light emitted form the light-emitting element 131 on the surface and is attached to the housing 14 so as to block the opening portion 143. The light-emitting emblem 1 is equipped with either one of a first rib 142 for suppressing the breakage of the cover 10, which extends from the housing 14 to the cover 10 side, or a second rib 121 for suppressing the breakage of the cover 10, which extends from the cover 10 to the housing 14 side.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a luminous emblem, and more particularly to a luminous emblem that is installed on a surface of a vehicle such as a front grille. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, there is known an illuminating emblem that is attached to the front grille of a vehicle and that can illuminate an emblem (see Patent Document 1). In the illuminating emblem described in Patent Document 1, a light-emitting device having an LED housed in a case is installed on the back side of the emblem, and the light-emitting device and the emblem are supported by a bracket and attached to the front grille of the vehicle. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2011-93378 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, with the structure of the luminous emblem described in Patent Document 1, when the luminous emblem receives an impact in the thickness direction due to a vehicle collision or the like, the emblem bends significantly in the direction of the light-emitting device on the rear side, which causes the emblem to easily become damaged.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a luminous emblem that can suppress damage to the emblem when it receives an impact in the thickness direction due to a vehicle collision or the like. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the present invention provides the following luminous emblems [1] to [3].

[0007] [1] A luminous emblem comprising: a light-emitting element as a light source; a housing having an opening for accommodating the light-emitting element; and a cover having an emblem on its surface, a light-emitting section on its surface through which light emitted from the light-emitting element is extracted, the cover being attached to the housing so as to cover the opening; and at least one of a first rib extending from the housing towards the cover to prevent damage to the cover, and a second rib extending from the cover towards the housing to prevent damage to the cover. [2] The luminous emblem described in [1] above, wherein the light-emitting element is mounted on a printed circuit board, the surface of the printed circuit board on which the light-emitting element is mounted faces the bottom of the housing, and light emitted from the light-emitting element and reflected by the inner surface of the housing and the printed circuit board is extracted from the light-emitting section. [3] The luminous emblem described in [2] above, wherein the housing has a protrusion protruding from the inside of the bottom of the housing at a position facing the light-emitting element on the bottom of the housing. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an illuminating emblem that can suppress damage to the emblem when it receives an impact in the thickness direction due to a vehicle collision or the like. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a front view of a luminous emblem according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 2(a), (b), and (c) are cross-sectional views of the luminous emblem according to the embodiment of the present invention taken along the cutting lines AA, BB, and CC shown in FIG. 1, respectively. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the luminous emblem according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 4(a) and (b) are cross-sectional views showing the structure of a modified example of the luminous emblem according to the embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] [Configuration of the luminous emblem] Fig. 1 is a front view of a luminous emblem 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figs. 2(a), (b), and (c) are cross-sectional views of the luminous emblem 1 taken along the cutting lines AA, BB, and CC shown in Fig. 1, respectively. Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the luminous emblem 1.

[0011] The luminous emblem 1 comprises a light-emitting element 131 as a light source, a housing 14 having an opening 143 for accommodating the light-emitting element 131, a cover 10 having an emblem on its surface and including a light-emitting section 120 on its surface from which light emitted from the light-emitting element 131 is extracted, the cover 10 being attached to the housing 14 so as to cover the opening 143, and a rib 142 extending from the housing 14 towards the cover 10 to prevent damage to the cover 10.

[0012] Light emitting element 131 is a light emitting element mounted on printed circuit board 13, and typically an LED is used. Printed circuit board 13 is installed so that the surface on which light emitting element 131 is mounted faces bottom 144 of housing 14. Printed circuit board 13 is fixed to housing 14 as described below.

[0013] The light emitted from the light emitting element 131 toward the bottom 144 of the housing 14 is reflected by the inner surface of the housing 14 and the printed circuit board 13, and then enters the outer lens 12 described below and is extracted to the outside from the light emitting unit 120, so that the brightness of the light emitting unit 120 is highly uniform. Furthermore, in the structure of this light emitting emblem 1, compared to a case where the light emitting element is disposed directly below the light extraction unit and the light is directly extracted, the optical path length from the light emitting element to the light extraction unit is long and the light can be sufficiently diffused inside, so that the light emitting unit 120 can have a sufficiently high brightness uniformity without increasing the thickness of the housing 14. In other words, the housing 14 can be made thin while ensuring the high brightness uniformity of the light emitting unit 120.

[0014] Furthermore, by making the housing 14 thinner, it is possible to shorten the ribs 142. By shortening the ribs 142, the durability of the ribs 142 against a collision, which will be described later, is improved, and the effect of suppressing damage to the cover 10 by the ribs 142, which will be described later, is improved.

[0015] Since the light emitted from the light emitting element 131 is reflected by the printed circuit board 13, the printed circuit board 13 is preferably a white board such as FR-4 or CEM3 that can suppress absorption of light. The reflectance of the surface of the printed circuit board 13 to the light emitted by the light emitting element 131 is 50% or more, and preferably 80% or more. In addition to the light emitting element 131, electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, and diodes are mounted on the printed circuit board 13.

[0016] Since the light emitted from the light emitting element 131 is reflected by the housing 14, it is preferable that the housing 14 is integrally molded from a white resin capable of suppressing light absorption, such as PC (polycarbonate), ASA (acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylic acid ester), ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene), or AES (acrylonitrile-ethylene-propylene-diene-styrene). The reflectance of the surface of the housing 14 to the light emitted by the light emitting element 131 is 50% or more, and preferably 80% or more. From the viewpoint of manufacturing costs, it is preferable to mold the housing 14 from a white resin, but it may be formed by applying a white paint to the surface of a non-white material.

[0017] The housing 14 has bosses 140 for fixing the printed circuit board 13 to the housing 14, protrusions 141 for preventing light leakage from a bottom 144 of the housing 14, and ribs 142 for preventing damage to the cover 10.

[0018] The boss 140 is a columnar protrusion with a screw hole that extends in the thickness direction from the inside of the bottom 144 of the housing 14. The printed circuit board 13 can be fixed to the boss 140 by fastening a screw through the hole 130 of the printed circuit board 13 and into the screw hole of the boss 140.

[0019] Protrusion 141 is a cone- or polygonal pyramid-shaped protrusion protruding in the thickness direction from the inside of bottom 144 of housing 14. By providing protrusion 141 at a position facing light-emitting element 131 on bottom 144 of housing 14, the thickness of the portion of bottom 144 where the strongest light is irradiated can be increased, and leakage light passing through bottom 144 can be reduced.

[0020] Furthermore, by reflecting the light emitted from the light emitting element 131 off the protrusion 141 and diffusing it around the protrusion 141, the diffusion efficiency within the housing 14 can be increased. The protrusion 141 may be arranged so that the light emitted from the light emitting element 131 is irradiated mainly onto the inclined surface of the protrusion 141 rather than onto the apex of the protrusion 141. The light distribution due to the reflection of the protrusion 141 can be adjusted depending on the position where the light is mainly irradiated. The height of the protrusion 141 is, for example, about 50% of the distance between the bottom 144 of the housing 14 and the outer lens 12, and the inclination angle of the inclined surface is about 60°.

[0021] The cover 10 has a cover body 11 that does not transmit light, and an outer lens 12 made of a light guide having a light emitting portion 120 exposed on the surface of the cover 10. The cover body 11 and the outer lens 12 may be an integrally molded product or may be separate parts.

[0022] The outer lens 12 is installed inside the cover body 11, that is, on the back side of the cover body 11 when the light-emitting emblem 1 is viewed from the front. A part of the outer lens 12 is exposed to the outside from a gap 100 in the cover body 11 as a light-emitting portion 120, and light emitted from the light-emitting element 131 and taken into the outer lens 12 is taken out from the light-emitting portion 120. In other words, when the light-emitting element 131 is turned on, light is emitted from the light-emitting portion 120 to the outside. The emblem on the surface of the cover 10 is expressed by the shapes of the cover body 11 and the light-emitting portion 120 of the outer lens 12.

[0023] The cover body 11 is made of a resin such as ABS, ASA, etc. The cover body 11 may be formed by molding a resin that is colored, for example, black, or the like, or the surface of the cover body 11 may be painted or plated.

[0024] The outer lens 12 is made of a resin such as PMMA (methyl methacrylate) or PC that transmits light emitted from the light emitting element 131. In particular, it is preferable to use PMMA, which has excellent weather resistance, as the material for the outer lens 12. PMMA has a drawback in that it has low strength compared to other light guide materials such as PC and is easily damaged when deformed. However, according to a structure for suppressing damage to the cover 10 using the ribs 142 described below, damage due to deformation can be suppressed even when PMMA is used for the outer lens. That is, for example, by using PMMA as the material for the outer lens 12, it is possible to obtain a cover 10 that has excellent weather resistance and is suppressed from being damaged due to deformation in the event of a collision or the like.

[0025] In order to prevent water and the like from entering the inside of the luminous emblem 1, it is preferable that the outer lens 12 and the housing 14 are joined by welding or the like.

[0026] [Structure to prevent damage to the cover] A configuration for preventing damage to the cover 10 when it is deformed, using the ribs 142 provided on the housing 14, will be described below.

[0027] The rib 142 is a columnar, plate-like, or other protrusion that extends in the thickness direction from the inside of the bottom 144 of the housing 14 and has a tip close to the cover 10. The rib 142 penetrates a hole 132 provided in the printed circuit board 13 and extends to the cover 10 side.

[0028] When the luminous emblem 1 installed on the front grille of a vehicle receives an impact in the thickness direction due to a vehicle collision or the like, it deforms in the direction of the housing 14 of the cover 10. At this time, the tip of the rib 142 hits the deformed cover 10, dispersing the impact and suppressing damage to the cover 10. In the structure exemplified in Figures 1 to 3, the tip of the rib 142 hits the outer lens 12 when the cover 10 is deformed.

[0029] When the luminous emblem 1 receives an impact in the thickness direction, the cover 10 bends, with the central portion being displaced the most. Therefore, in order to effectively prevent damage to the cover 10, it is preferable that the position of the rib 142 in the planar direction is within 35 mm from the center of the housing 14 in the planar direction so that the rib 142 can support the vicinity of the center of the cover 10.

[0030] In addition, in order to effectively prevent damage to the cover 10, it is preferable that the distance between the tip of the rib 142 and the cover 10 (for example, when the tip of the rib 142 faces the outer lens 12 as shown in Figure 2 (c), the distance between the tip of the rib 142 and the outer lens 12) be 0.5 mm or more and 2.5 mm or less.

[0031] Furthermore, in order to increase the durability of rib 142 against impact in the longitudinal direction without impairing the uniformity of the luminance of light-emitting section 120, the length of rib 142 is preferably 15 mm or less. If rib 142 is short, durability can be ensured without increasing the cross-sectional area in the horizontal direction, and therefore a decrease in the uniformity of the luminance of light-emitting section 120 caused by rib 142 blocking the optical path can be suppressed.

[0032] 4(a) and (b) are cross-sectional views showing the structure of modified examples of the luminous emblem 1. The cut positions of the cross sections shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b) correspond to the cut position of the cross section shown in Fig. 2(c).

[0033] 4(a), the printed circuit board 13 is closer to the cover 10 than the tips of the ribs 142, and the surface of the printed circuit board 13 on which the light emitting elements 131 are mounted faces the tips of the ribs 142. In this case, when the cover 10 deforms, it first comes into contact with the printed circuit board 13 fixed to the housing 14, and when the deformation becomes larger, it comes into contact with the tips of the ribs 142 via the printed circuit board 13.

[0034] 4(a), when the cover 10 is deformed, the cover 10 comes into contact with the tip of the rib 142 via the printed circuit board 13, so the rib 142 can be shortened by the thickness of the printed circuit board 13. By shortening the rib 142, the durability of the rib 142 against impact in the length direction is improved, and as a result, the damage prevention capability of the cover 10 is improved.

[0035] 4(b), a rib 121 extending from the cover 10 toward the housing 14 is provided as a rib for preventing damage to the cover 10, instead of the rib 142 provided on the housing 14. The rib 121 extends from the outer lens 12 toward the housing 14, for example, penetrating a hole 132 provided in the printed circuit board 13. In this case, when the cover 10 is deformed, the tip of the rib 121 comes into contact with the bottom 144 of the housing 14, dispersing the impact.

[0036] The luminous emblem 1 may have both the rib 142 provided on the housing 14 and the rib 121 provided on the cover 10 as ribs for preventing the cover 10 from being damaged.

[0037] As another modified example, a structure may be used in which the printed circuit board 13 is fixed to the cover 10, for example, the outer lens 12, instead of to the housing 14. In this case, the rigidity of the cover 10 is improved, and therefore the breakage prevention capability of the cover 10 is improved.

[0038] (Effects of the embodiment) In the luminous emblem 1 according to the above-described embodiment of the present invention, when an impact in the thickness direction is received due to a vehicle collision or the like, the impact on the cover 10 on which the emblem is applied is dispersed via the rib 142, thereby preventing damage to the cover 10.

[0039] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention. Furthermore, the components of the above embodiment can be combined in any manner without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[0040] In addition, the above-described embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention according to the claims. Also, it should be noted that not all of the combinations of features described in the embodiments are necessarily essential to the means for solving the problems of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 1 Luminous Emblem 10. Cover 11 Cover body 12 Outer Lens 120 Light emitting part 121 Rib 13 Printed circuit board 131 Light emitting element 14 Housing 142 Ribs 143 Opening

Claims

1. A light emitting element as a light source mounted on a printed circuit board; a housing having an opening for accommodating the light emitting element; a cover having an emblem on a surface thereof, a light-emitting portion on the surface thereof through which light emitted from the light-emitting element is extracted, the cover being attached to the housing so as to cover the opening; Equipped with At least one of a first rib extending from the housing toward the cover for preventing damage to the cover and a second rib extending from the cover toward the housing for preventing damage to the cover is provided, a surface of the printed circuit board on which the light emitting device is mounted faces a bottom of the housing; The light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected by the inner surface of the housing and the printed circuit board is extracted from the light emitting unit. Luminous emblem.

2. The housing has a protrusion protruding from the inside of the bottom of the housing at a position facing the light emitting element on the bottom of the housing. The luminous emblem according to claim 1.

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