JPS623429B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a display device for a vehicle that includes a plurality of independent display sections that display various measured quantities such as vehicle speed that change as the engine is driven.

In recent years, liquid crystal display devices, fluorescent display devices, etc. have been incorporated into automobile instrument panels, and for example, as shown in FIG.
a vehicle speed display section 1 consisting of a number display section 1b; an engine rotation speed display section 2 consisting of a bar graph display section 2a similar to the vehicle speed display section 1 and a number display section 2b;
The coolant temperature display section 3 and the remaining fuel amount display section 4, which display bar graphs of the engine's coolant temperature and remaining fuel amount, respectively, are installed on the instrument panel 5.
A vehicle display device formed in the following is used.

Conventionally, in such vehicle display devices,
Along with the vehicle speed display section 1, the engine speed display section 2, the coolant temperature display section 3, and the remaining fuel amount display section 4
Also, the display operation was always performed while the engine was running.

However, when a vehicle display device is configured as described above, there are many display sections, and each display section uses a large number of segment electrodes to perform the necessary display. If this was done, there were problems in that it caused a glare to the driver's eyes, making it difficult to see the display and making the driver feel tired.

In view of these points, the present invention does not require that all display sections can be viewed at all times, but only a specific display section can be viewed (for example, the vehicle speed of a car needs to be displayed at all times, but the engine speed (There is no need to constantly display cooling water temperature, remaining fuel level, etc.)
This method was developed by placing a shutter device in front of a specific display section, which is made of liquid crystal whose light transmittance changes with the application of voltage, in front of the display section. To provide a display device for a vehicle that is configured to control voltage application to a liquid crystal by a control circuit, so that only the minimum necessary display is displayed during normal times, and the display can be viewed by a driver. The main purpose is to.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The configuration of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 2, which is a cross-sectional view of a vehicle display device according to the present invention, in which various display sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 are arranged in the same manner as shown in FIG. 1, 11 is a transparent front glass plate; A color polarizing plate 12 is completely attached to the front side of the instrument panel 5 to form the surface of the instrument panel 5. A liquid crystal layer 15 held by a spacer 14 is attached to the upper rear side of the front glass plate 11 via a transparent electrode 13, and a transparent electrode 16, a transparent glass plate 17 and a color polarizing plate 18 are attached in this order. When installed, a vehicle speed display section 1 is constructed. Color polarizing plate 12 of the front glass plate 11
Characters, symbols, etc. for vehicle speed display are printed on the surface that comes into contact with the vehicle (not shown).

The liquid crystal layer 15 is composed of a TN type liquid crystal whose light transmittance changes depending on the applied voltage. When there is a signal), in cooperation with the color polarizing plates 12 and 18, the portion corresponding to the vehicle speed transmits the light and displays the vehicle speed. In addition, transparent electrodes 13, 16
is a transparent conductive wire (NESA film) made of tin oxide or indium oxide. The spacer 14 is made of Mylar, glass fiber, etc., and has a thickness of 10μ.
m to several tens of μm.

On the other hand, a shutter device 19 is provided on the rear side of the lower part of the front glass plate 11 with a space provided therebetween. The shutter device 19 includes, from the front side, a transparent glass plate 20, transparent shutter electrodes (first, second, and third transparent shutter electrodes 21, 22, 2).
3), liquid crystal layer 25 held by spacer 24,
A common transparent electrode 26, a transparent glass plate 27, and a color polarizing plate 28 are attached in this order.

The first, second, and third shutter transparent electrodes 21, 22, and 23 are disposed corresponding to the engine speed display section 2, the cooling water temperature display section 3, and the remaining fuel amount display section 4, respectively, and are usually (when no output signal is input from the drivers 66, 71, 78, which will be described later), the first, second and third shutter sections 29, 3 which hide the respective display sections 2, 3, 4 are activated.
0.31 (see FIGS. 3 and 4).

There is a space on the rear side of the shutter device 19, and prints 32 of letters, symbols, etc. are provided for displaying engine speed, cooling water temperature, and remaining fuel level.
A transparent glass plate 35 with 33 and 34 on the rear side is provided. On this transparent glass plate 35, transparent electrodes 36, 37, 38, which constitute the engine speed display section 2, the cooling water temperature display section 3, and the fuel display section 4, are provided.
are attached, and furthermore, the transparent electrodes 36, 37, 3
Liquid crystal layer 4 held by spacer 39 on the rear side of 8
0, a common transparent electrode 41, a transparent glass plate 42, and a color polarizing plate 43 are installed in this order to constitute the engine rotational speed display section 2, the coolant temperature display section 3, and the remaining fuel amount display section 4. Each of these display sections 2, 3, and 4 performs display in the same manner as the vehicle speed display section 1 described above.

44 is a semi-transparent plate such as glass, which has a space,
It is arranged on the rear side of the color polarizing plate 43. 45
is a lamp for night illumination, and is arranged on the rear side of the semi-transparent plate 44.

Note that 6 and 7 are a turn display section and a high beam display section, respectively. In addition, the liquid crystal layers 25, 40
is a liquid crystal layer 15 and transparent electrodes 21, 22, 23, 2
6, 36, 37, 38, 41 are transparent electrodes 13, 1
It goes without saying that the spacers 6 and the spacers 24 and 39 have the same structure as the spacer 14.

Next, the control circuit of the vehicle display device will be explained with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG.

51 is a vehicle speed sensor that detects the vehicle speed of the automobile;
Reference numeral 2 denotes an engine rotation sensor that detects the rotation speed of the engine of the automobile, numeral 53 indicates a remaining fuel amount sensor that detects the remaining amount of fuel, and numeral 54 indicates a water temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the engine cooling water of the automobile.

Each of the above-mentioned sensors 51, 52, 53, 54 is connected to an analog-digital converter (hereinafter referred to as an A-D converter) 55, 56, 57, 58, respectively.
-D converters 55, 56, 57, 58 are electrically linked to decoders 59, 60, 61, 62, respectively. As a result, each of the above-mentioned sensors 51, 5
Output signals from 2, 53, 54 (analog signal)
is input to each A-D converter 55, 56, 57, 58 and converted into a digital signal, and then input to each decoder 59, 60, 61, 62.

The decoder 59 is a circuit that converts the digital signal input from the A-D converter 55 into signals for display on the bar graph display section 1a and the numeric display section 1b, and is a circuit that uses a well-known bar graph decoder circuit and a 7-segment decoder circuit. The output thereof is configured to be input to a liquid crystal display driver 63 that drives the vehicle speed display section 1 of the instrument panel 5. A voltage (+Vcc) is applied to this driver 63 from a terminal 64, and it is always in an enabled state.

Further, like the decoder 59, the decoder 60 is composed of a well-known bar graph decoder circuit, a 7-segment decoder, etc., and its output is inputted to a driver 65 that drives the engine rotation speed display section 2 of the instrument panel 5. It is composed of This driver 65 is a circuit similar to the driver 63 of the vehicle speed display section 1.

66 is a driver for the first shutter section 29 that hides the engine speed display section 2 as necessary, and a selection switch 68 whose one end is connected to a terminal 67 to which battery voltage (+Vcc) is applied, and whose other end is grounded. A connection point _P1 with a resistor 69 is electrically connected, and the selection switch 68 is enabled or disabled by turning on or off the selection switch 68. Therefore, when the selection switch 68 is turned on by manual operation and an output signal (shutter release signal) is issued, the driver 66 is enabled, and the first shutter section 29 is thereby enabled.
The transmittance of the engine speed display section 2 increases, and the engine speed display section 2 becomes visible.

On the other hand, the decoder 61 converts the digital signal input from the A-D converter 57 into the remaining fuel amount display section 4.
The bar graph decoder circuit converts the signal into a bar graph display signal, and the output thereof is input to a driver 70 that drives the remaining fuel amount display section 4. This driver 70 is a circuit similar to the driver 63 of the vehicle speed display section 1.

Reference numeral 71 denotes a driver for the second shutter section 30 that hides the remaining fuel amount display section 4 as necessary, and is enabled by inputting the output signal of the OR gate 72. This OR gate 72 outputs an output signal in response to an output signal from a comparator 73 or a signal input by turning on a selection switch 74 whose one end is connected to the terminal 67 . A resistor 75, one end of which is grounded, is connected to the selection switch 74 at a connection point _P2 .

The comparator 73 has an inverting input terminal electrically connected to the output terminal of the remaining fuel amount sensor 53, and a non-inverting input terminal electrically connected to the other end of a reference power supply 76 whose one end is grounded. The amount decreases, and the output signal of the remaining fuel amount sensor 53 becomes the reference power source 7.
6, the output signal of the comparator 73 is inverted from "Low" to "High", thereby enabling the driver 71.

The decoder 62 is comprised of a bar graph decoder circuit that converts the digital signal input from the A-D converter 58 into a signal for bar graph display on the cooling water temperature display section 3, and its output signal is transmitted to the cooling water temperature display section 3. The signal is configured to be input to a driver 77 that drives 3. This driver 77 is a circuit similar to the driver 63 of the vehicle speed display section 1.

Reference numeral 78 denotes a driver for the third shutter section 31 that hides the coolant temperature display section 3 as necessary, and is enabled by an output signal from the OR gate 79. This OR gate 79 outputs an output signal in response to an output signal from a comparator 80 or a signal input by turning on a selection switch 81 whose one end is connected to the terminal 67 . Further, a resistor 82 whose one end is grounded is connected to the other end of the selection switch 81 at a connection point _P3 .

The comparator 80 has its non-inverting input terminal electrically connected to the output terminal of the water temperature sensor 54, and its inverting input terminal electrically connected to the other end of a reference power source 83, one end of which is grounded. When the water temperature rises and the output signal of the water temperature sensor 54 becomes higher than the reference potential of the reference power source 83, the output signal is inverted to enable the driver 78.

With the above configuration, the vehicle speed display section 1 in the instrument panel 5 can be
3 is always enabled, so the vehicle speed is always displayed while the engine is rotating.However, when the selection switch 68 is turned off, the engine speed display section 2 disables the driver 66 and displays the vehicle speed while the engine is rotating.
Since the shutter section 29 hides the engine speed display section 2, the engine speed display cannot be viewed by the driver.

Further, the remaining fuel amount display section 4 and the cooling water temperature display section 3 are also similar to the engine rotation speed display section 2,
When the selection switches 74 and 81 are turned off, the drivers 71 and 78 are respectively disabled, and the second and third shutter sections 30 and 3 are disabled.
1 hides the display sections 3 and 4, respectively, and the display of the remaining fuel amount and cooling water temperature becomes invisible to the driver.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, the selection switches 68, 7
If you turn off all 4 and 81, the vehicle speed will only be displayed on the instrument panel 5.
The glare caused by the display on the instrument panel 5 during driving is almost eliminated.

Regarding the display of the remaining fuel amount and cooling water temperature, even if the selection switches 74 and 81 are turned off, when the remaining fuel amount becomes low, the output signal of the comparator 73 changes from "Low" to "High" and the driver 71 is enabled, the remaining fuel amount display section 4 automatically displays the remaining fuel amount regardless of whether the selection switch 74 is on or off. As in the case,
Since the coolant temperature can be automatically displayed regardless of whether the selection switch 81 is on or off, there is no problem even if the vehicle speed is simply displayed.

Note that in the above embodiment, the comparators 73 and 80
Instead, a switch 84 that is turned on when the remaining fuel level is low, a switch 85 that is turned on when the engine cooling water temperature exceeds a certain temperature, and resistors 86 and 87 are shown in FIG. are connected as shown by the dashed lines, thereby making the switches 84, 8
By turning on the gate 5, the inputs of the OR gates 72 and 79 can be set to "High".

In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, in the case where the air conditioning display section 91 is provided at the lower part of the instrument panel 5, a shutter section 92 is provided for the air conditioning display section 91 in the same configuration as the above embodiment, so that the air conditioner can be used. When the user is not present, the air conditioning display section 91 can be configured to be hidden, as shown in FIG. In this case, the control circuit 93 includes an operation switch 95 of the air conditioner 94, as shown in FIG.
and a switch 97 that inputs a signal to the driver 96 of the shutter section 92 of the air conditioning display section 91, so that when the operating switch 95 is closed, the switch 97 is also closed and the driver 96 is enabled. is possible.

Although the above embodiments have been described as being applied to automobiles, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be widely applied to display devices for general vehicles.

As described above, the present invention can hide specific display parts and display only the display parts necessary for driving the vehicle, so even if a digital display is adopted, the driver will not feel the glare displayed on the display. This makes the display easier to read and reduces driver fatigue. In addition, since the shutter device is made of liquid crystal whose light transmittance changes when voltage is applied, it can be made thinner than when using a mechanical shutter device, requiring less installation space. The shape can be selected, so you can set the shape as you like.
Furthermore, electrical control is possible with the control circuit, so
It has various excellent effects such as a simpler mechanism.

Furthermore, if the control circuit is provided with a manual switch and a detection device that detects the display amount on the display section and issues an output signal when the display amount falls within the set range, the shutter device can be activated when the manual switch is turned off. Even if a shutter operation is in progress, the detection device forcibly interrupts the shutter operation when necessary, so that a kind of alarm function can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view showing an example of an instrument panel composed of multiple display sections, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an engine speed display section. A front view similar to Fig. 1 showing a state in which the cooling water temperature display section is hidden by the shutter device, and Fig. 4 shows a state in which the remaining fuel level display section is further hidden by the shutter device compared to the state in Fig. 3. 5 is a block diagram of the control circuit of the vehicle display device, FIG. 6 is a front view of main parts of a modified example, and FIG. 7 is a front view similar to FIG. FIG. 8 is a front view similar to FIG. 6 in a state hidden by the shutter device, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a control circuit of a modified example. 1... Vehicle speed display section, 2... Engine rotation speed display section, 1a, 2a... Bar graph display section, 1b, 2
b...Numeric display section, 3...Cooling water temperature display section, 4
... Fuel remaining amount display section, 5 ... Instrument panel, 11 ... Surface glass plate, 12, 18, 2
8, 43...color polarizing plate, 13, 16, 21,
22, 23, 26, 36, 37, 38, 41...
Transparent electrode, 14, 24, 39...Spacer, 1
5, 25, 40...liquid crystal layer, 17, 20, 27,
35, 42... Transparent glass plate, 19... Shutter device, 29, 30, 31... Shutter part, 3
2, 33, 34...Print, 44...Semi-transparent plate, 45...Lamp, 51...Vehicle speed sensor, 52
... Engine rotation sensor, 53 ... Fuel level sensor, 54 ... Water temperature sensor, 55, 56, 57, 5
8...Analog-digital converter, 59,6
0, 61, 62...decoder, 63, 65, 6
6, 70, 71, 77, 78...driver, 6
4,67...terminal, 68,74,81...selection switch, 69,75,82...resistance, 72,79
...Orgate, 73,80...Comparator, 76,
83... Reference power supply, 84, 85... Switch, 9
1... Air conditioning display unit, 92... Shutter device, 9
3...control circuit, 94...air conditioner, 95...operation switch, 96...driver, 97...switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle display device comprising a plurality of independent display sections, which is formed of a liquid crystal whose light transmittance changes with the application of a voltage, and which is disposed in front of a specific display section. A display device for a vehicle, comprising: a shutter device that hides the display portion; and a control circuit that controls voltage application to a liquid crystal forming the shutter device. 2. The control circuit includes a manual switch that issues an output signal when turned on, and a detection device that detects the display amount at the rear of the shutter device and issues an output signal when the display amount falls within the set range. The vehicle display device according to claim 1, which controls voltage application to the shutter device according to the output signal.