Transmitter with indicator light
The transmitter uses a light guide material with grooves to ensure characters are visible in darkness and reduces costs by eliminating printing, addressing illegibility and cost issues in emergency notification devices.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- JP · JP
- Patent Type
- Patents
- Current Assignee / Owner
- NITTAN CO LTD
- Filing Date
- 2022-07-27
- Publication Date
- 2026-07-06
AI Technical Summary
Existing transmitters for emergency notification face issues with illegible text in dark places and increased manufacturing costs due to silk screen printing and ink drying processes.
A transmitter with a light guide material protective plate and panel that uses grooves to create contrast in brightness for character display, eliminating the need for printing and reducing costs.
Characters are readable in dark places, and manufacturing costs are reduced by avoiding printing processes, while maintaining device compactness.
Smart Images
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Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The present invention relates to a transmitter for emergency notification, and more particularly to a transmitter with a display lamp, which is installed on a wall of a building or the like and equipped with a display lamp, and is operated in the event of an emergency to issue an alarm.
Background Art
[0002] Conventionally, in order to notify the occurrence of an emergency such as a fire inside a building, a manual transmitter equipped with a push-button switch is installed on the wall of the building at an appropriate height. In the event of an emergency, when the discoverer strongly presses the push-button switch of the transmitter, a signal notifying the occurrence of the emergency is transmitted to a receiver or the like, and an alarm sound is emitted from a bell provided near the transmitter, so that the people around can be notified of the occurrence of the emergency. In addition, some transmitters are integrally provided with a display lamp for notifying the presence of fire-related equipment (including the transmitter) (for example, Patent Document 1).
[0003] Also conventionally, in a transmitter, the operation position is clearly indicated by writing characters such as "press hard" on the surface of the push button, or the function of the device is clearly indicated by writing characters such as "fire alarm" on the surface of the front panel. Note that the writing of characters on the transmitter is generally performed by silk printing on the surface on the surface of the parts. In addition, an invention related to a display device for gas fire extinguishing equipment has been proposed, in which laser processing is performed on the surface of a light guide plate, and the light incident from the side surface of the light guide plate is reflected by grooves formed by the laser processing, so that characters such as "no entry" are displayed on the surface of the light guide plate (for example, Patent Document 2).
Prior Art Documents
Patent Documents
[0004]
Patent Document 1
Patent Document 2
[0005] When using printed text for labeling, a challenge arises because the text is illegible in dark places, making it difficult to understand the device's functions and operation. Furthermore, when using silk screen printing for labeling, if the parts are made of resin, the silk screen printing process must be performed after the resin molding process, increasing the number of steps. Additionally, the need for ink drying time or a drying process after printing lengthens the manufacturing time of the parts, leading to increased costs.
[0006] This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its objective is to provide a transmitter with an indicator light that allows the characters to be read even in dark places and makes the functions and operation methods of the device easy to understand. Another object of the present invention is to provide a transmitter with an indicator light that does not require a printing process for displaying characters, thereby avoiding increased costs. [Means for solving the problem]
[0007] To solve the above problems, the present invention provides The device comprises a main body case containing a push-button switch that is turned on by pressing from the front, a protective plate positioned in front of the push-button switch, a front panel having an opening that exposes at least a portion of the protective plate, and a light source disposed on the back or side of the protective plate or the front panel. The push button switch is turned ON by pressing the protective plate. In a transmitter with an indicator light, The protective plate and the front panel are formed of a light guide material. Multiple grooves are formed on the back surface of the protective plate and / or the front panel according to the characters to be displayed. The different arrangements of these grooves result in different amounts of light per unit area emitted from the surface of the protective plate and / or the front panel in the areas corresponding to the characters and the areas not corresponding to the characters, creating a contrast in brightness and darkness, which in turn causes the characters to be displayed.
[0008] With the above configuration, the characters are displayed by the brightness of the light emitted from the protective plate (push button) and the front of the front panel, so the characters can be read even in dark places, making the functions and operation methods of the device easy to understand. In addition, the printing process for displaying characters is unnecessary, thus avoiding increased costs. "Different groove formation patterns" means, for example, that the groove depth or pitch is different.
[0009] Here, preferably, multiple grooves are formed along the entire back surface of the front panel. The light from the light source, which emits light to display characters depending on the brightness, strikes the plurality of grooves on the back surface of the front panel, reflects, and is emitted from the front surface of the front panel, thereby configuring the front panel to function as an indicator light.
[0010] With the above configuration, the light source that emits light to display characters based on the brightness of the light can also be used as the light source that emits light to make the front panel function as an indicator light to show the location of the transmitter. As a result, the device can be made compact and costs can be avoided.
[0011] Furthermore, preferably, the protective plate has a recess having an inclined surface. The light source is positioned behind the recess of the protective plate. The configuration is such that light emitted from the light source enters the light guide material constituting the protective plate from the inclined surface of the recess, and then enters the light guide material constituting the front panel located outside of it.
[0012] It is also possible to configure the device by placing the light source on the outside of the front panel and having the light for display incident from the side of the front panel, but this configuration would increase the size of the device. In contrast, with the above configuration, the light source can be placed behind the protective plate (push button), and the light can be incident from the back of the protective plate, thus avoiding an increase in the size of the device. [Effects of the Invention]
[0013] According to the transmitter with indicator light of the present invention, the displayed characters can be read even in dark places, making the functions and operation methods of the device easy to understand. Furthermore, since a printing process is not required for displaying the characters, and the light source for the indicator light is also used as a light source for displaying the characters, it is possible to avoid increased costs. [Brief explanation of the drawing]
[0014] [Figure 1] This is a perspective view showing the external appearance of a transmitter with an indicator light, as seen from the front at an angle, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a front view showing the push button and front panel of the indicator light transmitter of the first embodiment as seen from the front. [Figure 3] This figure shows the cross-sectional structure of the push button and front panel in the transmitter with indicator light of the first embodiment, where (A) is a cross-sectional view along line III-III in Figure 2, (B) is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing another example of a recess into which light from the light-emitting element enters, and (C) is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of (A). [Figure 4] This is a front view showing a modified example of the transmitter with an indicator light according to the first embodiment. [Figure 5] This is a front view showing another modification of the transmitter with indicator light of the first embodiment. [Figure 6] This is a front view showing yet another modification of the transmitter with indicator light of the first embodiment. [Figure 7] This is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part showing the internal structure of the transmitter with indicator light of the second embodiment. [Figure 8]It is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part showing the internal structure of the transmitter with a display lamp according to the third embodiment.
Embodiments for Carrying out the Invention
[0015] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a transmitter with a display lamp to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings. The transmitter to which the present invention is applied has a function of sending a signal notifying the occurrence of an emergency by strongly pressing a push button to turn on an internal switch when an emergency occurs, and is configured to be installed and used on a building wall surface or a predetermined mounting panel. Specifically, the transmitter with a display lamp according to the present embodiment includes a front panel having a push button at the center, a push button switch that is turned on by the pushing operation of the push button, and a main body case that houses a circuit board that generates a signal and sends it to the outside when the switch is turned on.
[0016] (First Embodiment) Figs. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the transmitter according to the present invention. Among these, Fig. 1 is an overall perspective view of the transmitter, Fig. 2 is a front view of the transmitter shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the cross-sectional structure of the push button and the front panel constituting the transmitter. As shown in Fig. 1, the transmitter according to the present embodiment includes a transmitter main body portion 10 provided with a box-shaped storage case 13 incorporating a push button switch, and a disk-shaped front panel portion 20 provided at the front portion of the transmitter main body portion 10, which includes a push button 21 as a protection plate for protecting the push button switch at the center of the front surface and an opening 22a through which the front surface of the push button 21 is exposed.
[0017] In the transmitter of this embodiment, the push button 21 and the front panel 22 are made of a light-transmitting light guide material such as acrylic resin. As shown in Figure 2, the words "Press firmly" are displayed on the front of the push button 21, and the words "Fire alarm" are displayed on the lower front of the front panel 22. These words are not printed, but are displayed by light emitted from light-emitting elements provided inside. Specifically, the entire front surface of the push button 21 and the entire front surface of the front panel 22 are configured to emit light at low brightness, while the two types of characters emit light at a higher brightness than their surroundings. The light-emitting color of the above-mentioned light-emitting element is, for example, red, similar to that of conventional indicator lights. Instead of using a red light-emitting element, a white light-emitting element may be used, and the light guide material forming the push button 21 and the front panel 22 may be colored red.
[0018] Next, a specific method for displaying the above characters on the front of the push button 21 and the front panel 22 will be explained using Figure 3. Figure 3 shows the cross-sectional structure of the push button 21 and the front panel 22. In Figure 3, the top is the front side of the transmitter. As shown in Figure 3(A), in this embodiment, an LED substrate 27 with light-emitting elements 28 mounted on it is arranged on the rear (downward in the figure) side of the push button 21. Although two light-emitting elements 28 are shown in Figure 3(A), one may be used. Also, instead of bullet-shaped LEDs, thin, surface-mountable LED chips may be used for the light-emitting elements 28.
[0019] The LED board 27 may be installed inside the push button 21 and move together with the push button 21, or it may be fixed inside the storage case 13 behind the push button 21. In addition, multiple light-emitting elements 28 may be mounted on the LED board 27 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper. Although not shown in the diagram, a cylindrical pressing portion is formed in the center of the back of the push button 21, projecting toward the rear. The actuator of the push button switch is positioned opposite the end face of this pressing portion. A compression spring is also provided around the pressing portion to bias the push button 21 forward.
[0020] Furthermore, on the back surface of the push button 21, in the area facing the light-emitting element 28, a recess 21a is formed, which has a trapezoidal cross-section and is parallel to the direction in which the characters to be displayed are arranged, with a length corresponding to the width of the push button and the width of the character formation area in that area. In addition, a light-reflecting layer 23 is formed on the bottom surface of the recess 21a, and the light emitted from the light-emitting element 28 and the light reflected by the light-reflecting layer 23 are configured to enter the push button 21, which is made of light-guiding material, from the inclined surface of the recess 21a. The light-reflecting layer 23 may be formed by attaching a reflective sheet, or it may be formed directly by a vapor deposition method or the like. The recess 21a may also have an M-shape with a mountain-shaped projection that protrudes from the bottom surface toward the rear (downward in the figure), as shown in Figure 3(B). Furthermore, as a further modification of Figure 3(B), the recess 21a may be formed as a V-shaped groove extending from the front to the rear. That is, the recess 21a may be provided on the front side of the push button.
[0021] Furthermore, multiple grooves D with a V-shaped cross-section are formed on the back surface of the push button 21 and the back surface of the front panel 22. In the V-shaped grooves D, the surface facing the incoming light is inclined, while the opposite surface is perpendicular. Light incident from the recess 21a on the back surface of the push button 21 travels outward along the push button 21 and the front panel 22, and as shown in Figure 3(C), some of it hits the grooves D, changes direction, and is emitted forward. In this case, the deeper the groove, the greater the amount of reflected light and the brighter it becomes.
[0022] In this embodiment, the groove D is formed across the entire back surface of the push button 21 and the back surface of the front panel 22, and the groove is formed to be deeper in the areas corresponding to the characters. As a result, as shown in Figure 2, the characters are displayed by emitting light with high brightness in the character areas and light emitting light with low brightness around them. In addition, the area in front of the light-reflecting layer 23 becomes brighter when some of the light that enters the light guide material forming the push button 21 from the recess and is reflected off the circumferential surface of the push button 21 reaches the area in front of the light-reflecting layer 23.
[0023] In this embodiment, the depth of the grooves D is varied to create light and dark areas and display characters. However, instead of changing the depth of the grooves D, the pitch of the grooves D may be changed so that the pitch becomes narrower and denser in the character areas, or the grooves become deeper and the pitch narrower in the character areas.
[0024] Grooves D may be formed by laser processing, as described in Patent Document 2 above, or by other methods such as etching. Furthermore, the cross-section of groove D is not limited to a V-shape, but may be a trapezoid or other shape. Methods for forming grooves for displaying characters are also described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-312985, etc. Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in Figure 3, a recess 21a for light to enter is formed in the push button 21, and a light-emitting element 28 is placed behind it. However, the recess 21a and the light-emitting element 28 may also be located on the back of the front panel 22.
[0025] Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the character portion emits light with high brightness, while the surrounding area emits light with low brightness. However, as shown in Figure 4, the character portion may emit light with high brightness, and a rectangular non-emitting area C may be provided around it, with the area around the non-emitting area C emitting light with low brightness. This configuration allows the character to be highlighted. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 5, the character portion and the outer edge, or outline, of the front panel 22 may be made to emit light with high brightness, or as shown in Figure 6, the entire surface of the front panel 22 may be made to emit light with high brightness, while the character portion does not emit light, thereby performing an inverted display. In the case of the emitted light display as shown in Figure 5, the groove D is formed only on the character portion and the outer edge of the front panel 22. In the case of the emitted light display as shown in Figure 6, the groove D is formed on the entire area excluding the character portion. Note that in Figures 2 and 4 to 6, areas with higher brightness are depicted as black, and areas with lower brightness are depicted as white.
[0026] (Second Embodiment) Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the surface of the front panel 22 formed of a light guide material is used as the front of the transmitter. However, in the embodiment shown in Figure 7, the front panel 22 is composed of a light guide member 22A having a light introduction portion 22c formed at the end of the inclined portion facing the light-emitting element 28 on the LED substrate 27, and a light-transmitting cover member 22B that covers the surface of the light guide member 22A. In this embodiment as well, characters can be displayed by forming grooves D on the back surface of the light guide member 22A, similar to those in the previous embodiment.
[0027] On the other hand, the cover member 22B consists of a shape-retaining member made of a translucent, shape-retaining soft material such as silicone resin, and a covering portion made of a flexible material such as a synthetic resin sheet or cloth that is provided to cover the surface of the shape-retaining member. As a result, even if the cover member 22B is subjected to an external impact, the shape-retaining member deforms to absorb the impact and prevent surface damage. Furthermore, because the surface of the shape-retaining member is covered by the covering portion, the light guided by the light guide member 22A is diffused or transmitted and emitted forward, giving a soft, hazy texture. Note that the cover member 22B may also consist only of the covering portion, omitting the shape-retaining member.
[0028] (Third embodiment) Figure 8 shows a transmitter of another embodiment. In this embodiment, the transmitter is provided with a cover member 24 that covers the front panel 22 and the front of the push button 21, which are made of a light guide material. The cover member 24, like the cover member 22B of the second embodiment shown in Figure 7, consists of a shape-retaining member made of a translucent and shape-retaining soft material such as silicone resin, and a covering portion made of a flexible material such as a synthetic resin sheet or cloth that is provided to cover the surface of the shape-retaining member.
[0029] Furthermore, the disc-shaped push button 21 has a pressing portion in its center that fits into the central opening 22a of the annular front panel 22, and a flange portion is provided on the outer circumference of the back side. A light introduction portion 21d, consisting of a columnar projection that protrudes toward the rear, is formed on the peripheral edge of this flange portion, opposite the light-emitting element 28. Furthermore, a light-emitting element 28 on the LED substrate 27 is arranged so as to face the end face of the light-introducing section 21d. Note that multiple light-introducing sections 21d and light-emitting elements 28 may be provided on the back of the push button 21, along the circumferential direction of the push button.
[0030] Furthermore, a reflective surface 21e is formed on the opposite end face of the light introduction section 21d, inclined at approximately 45 degrees. As a result, the light emitted from the light-emitting element 28 is introduced from the light introduction section 21d to the push button 21, and then guided to the front panel 22 via the push button 21. Furthermore, multiple grooves D with a V-shaped cross-section are formed on the back side of the push button 21 and the front panel 22. These grooves D are formed so that, as in the first embodiment, the depth and pitch of the grooves differ between the parts corresponding to characters and the other parts. This allows characters to be displayed on the push button 21 and the front panel 22.
[0031] Although the present invention has been described above based on embodiments, the present invention is not limited to those embodiments described above. For example, in the above embodiments, the light-emitting element 28 is arranged on the back of the push button 21 (or front panel 22), but it may also be arranged on the side of the front panel 22 so that light is incident on the interior of the front panel 22 from the side. Alternatively, multiple light-emitting elements 28 may be arranged so that light is incident on the interior of the front panel 22 from multiple directions.
[0032] Furthermore, although the above embodiments primarily described the application of the present invention to fire alarm transmitters constituting a fire alarm system, the present invention is not limited to fire alarm transmitters and can be widely used for train emergency alarm transmitters installed on station platforms and level crossings, and for emergency call transmitters installed in toilets, bathrooms, etc. Moreover, the present invention is not limited to transmitters with indicator lights and can also be applied to standalone indicator lights. [Explanation of symbols]
[0033] 10 Transmitter main unit 13 Storage Cases 20 Front panel section 21 Push buttons 21a Recess 22 Front Panel 22A Light guide member 22B Cover component 23 Light reflective layer 24 Cover component 27 LED boards 28 Light-emitting elements (LEDs)
Claims
1. A transmitter with an indicator light comprising: a main body case containing a push-button switch that is turned on by pressing from the front; a protective plate positioned in front of the push-button switch; a front panel having an opening that exposes at least a part of the protective plate; and a light source disposed on the back or side of the protective plate or the front panel, wherein the push-button switch is turned on by pressing the protective plate, The protective plate and the front panel are formed of a light guide material. A transmitter with an indicator light is characterized in that a plurality of grooves are formed on the back surface of the protective plate and / or the front panel according to the characters to be displayed, and the amount of light emitted per unit area from the surface of the protective plate and / or the front panel differs between the parts with characters and the parts without characters due to the different formation patterns of the plurality of grooves, resulting in brightness and darkness, and the characters are displayed by this brightness and darkness.
2. Multiple grooves are formed on the entire back surface of the aforementioned front panel. The transmitter with an indicator light according to claim 1, characterized in that the light from the light source that emits light for displaying characters depending on the brightness strikes the plurality of grooves on the back surface of the front panel, is reflected, and emitted from the front surface of the front panel, so that the front panel functions as an indicator light.
3. The protective plate has a recess having an inclined surface. The light source is positioned behind the recess of the protective plate. The transmitter with an indicator light according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the light emitted from the light source is incident on the light guide material constituting the protective plate from the inclined surface of the recess, and further incident on the light guide material constituting the front panel located outside of it.